


Strangers In The Night

by dukeofdragonstone



Series: Take My Hand, Wreck My Plans [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, F/F, M/M, Overprotective Draco, Slytherin Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:27:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 28
Words: 61,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27002731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dukeofdragonstone/pseuds/dukeofdragonstone
Summary: After a long summer, a Slytherin Harry Potter meets Cedric Diggory, much to the disgust of Draco Malfoy, Harry's best friend.With Sirius Black on the loose, and the arrival of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Harry is yet to find out the truth behind the night his parents were murdered, and with the help of his friends, he most certainly will.
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Pansy Parkinson, Marcus Flint/Oliver Wood, Neville Longbottom/Theodore Nott, Ron Weasley/Blaise Zabini, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Take My Hand, Wreck My Plans [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068275
Comments: 154
Kudos: 275





	1. Mrs. Diggory’s Botanical Novelties.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry makes a new friend.

**Chapter 1:**

**Mrs. Diggory’s Botanical Novelties.**

After the aunt Marge incident, Harry had been at the room Cornelius Fudge paid for him at The Leaky Cauldron for only a couple of days, and besides the fact that there was a serial killer on the loose and he had to be in his room before nightfall, Harry had never felt this kind of freedom before.

Every morning, Harry would have a go in taming his hair, but as every morning for the last couple of years, Harry would fail miserably in the attempt. While standing in front of the mirror, Harry saw his reflection staring back at him, his green eyes analyzing from top to bottom. He had grown a little bit taller over the summer, he realized. His oversized clothes, passed down onto him from Dudley, his cousin, made him look skinnier than he already was, but his real distinctive feature was on his head, just above his left eye there was a scar in the form of a lightning bolt, it was the result of a failed murder attempt by Lord Voldemort when he was only fifteen months old, the scar extended from his eyelid to a small fraction of his scalp, his view was very poor in his left eye and there where the scar reached the scalp Harry had a strand of white hair, which he happened to like very much.

Before leaving his room, Harry had a last look at his scar, it hadn’t burned since he and Ginny Weasley defeated the basilisk and Tom Riddle’s memory at the Chamber of Secrets, at the end of last year.

Harry had been finishing his summer assignments at the tables outside Florian Fortescue’s ice cream parlor at the Diagon Alley. Mr. Fortescue was an extremely well-versed man when it came to the History of Magic and he had helped Harry complete his homework over the last couple of days, however, that morning Harry wasn’t busy doing homework, he was writing thank you notes to his friends for the birthday presents. His two Gryffindor friends, Ron and Hermione, got him a Pocket Sneakoscope and a Broomcare Kit respectively, Hagrid got him _The Monster Book of Monsters_ , and his best friend since his first year, when he was sorted in Slytherin, Draco Malfoy, had gotten him a dark green satin pajama set that matched his.

“How can I be of help today, Mr. Potter?” Mr. Fortescue asked kindly leaving a chocolate milkshake on the table.

“I’m afraid we are already done with my summer assignments, sir.” Harry smiled “I’m writing some thank you notes to my friends.”

“What are you thanking them for?” Mr. Fortescue asked curiously.

“My birthday was a couple of days ago, sir, they sent me some presents, and with the assignments, I haven’t had the chance to thank them properly.” The boy explained.

“Your birthday…” Mr. Fortescue hummed to himself. “Then that milkshake’s free, don’t you dare pay me this time, Mr. Potter.”

And the man rushed inside his shop before Harry could say something.

_~~Draco,~~ _

No, wait.

_Dearest Draco,_

Harry nodded to himself in approval. He was already done with the other thank you notes, Draco’s was the last one, and the hardest one for that matter.

Maybe I’ll just keep it simple, he thought.

_Thank you so much for the pajama set. You probably don’t know this, but the last expensive thing I wore was Dudley’s old elementary school uniform and it didn’t fit me, so to be able to wear something that my cousin’s body hasn’t molded was a foreign feeling, to say the least, but a pleasant one nevertheless, so thank you for that._

Harry thought the paragraph was a little funny in its own way, but even though Draco knew how the Dursleys usually treated him, he feared that Draco would worry.

_I had a situation at the Dursley’s last week and I’m currently staying at The Leaky Cauldron until school starts, I hope to see you soon._

_Love,_

_Harry._

That’s it, he thought. He put each letter in an envelope, drank his milkshake, and started walking down Diagon Alley, not before saying goodbye to Florian Fortescue through the window.

Since Harry knew he would be at The Leaky Cauldron for some time, he took it easy when it came to taking a walk down Diagon Alley, he didn’t go to all the shops at once, since he didn’t want the place to lose its charm.

Harry delivered the letters to the Owlery since Hedwig was out on her own. After he left the Owlery, he noticed a shop he had never seen before, _Mrs. Diggory’s Botanical Novelties_. Harry felt as if he knew the name from somewhere, so he decided to take a look.

The shop was decorated in yellow and earth undertones, and it seemed to have everything, from plants and seeds to some books on plant care, Harry was amazed at how good it smelled, it reminded him of the greenhouses at Hogwarts.

“Good morning!” Harry said loudly.

“I’ll be with you in a second!” Said a voice coming from under the counter.

Harry didn’t have to wait too long to discover the owner of the voice, it was the seeker of the Hufflepuff quidditch team, Cedric Diggory. Cedric was tall and athletic, he had a warm smile and big gray eyes. He always looks handsome, Harry thought, even then, with his messy hair and dirt on his face, from the plants probably.

“Potter.” Cedric could not believe his eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh… I-I was just taking a walk, I had never seen this place before and I-I got curious.” Harry said awkwardly, stuttering.

“Well, that’s because we just opened.”

“I see, I better leave. Have a nice day, Diggory.” He spat nervously.

“No, Potter! Wait!” Cedric called. “Was I rude?”

“Don’t worry, you never were.” Harry said soflty, reminiscing of how some Hufflepuffs treated him last year after Justin Finch-Fletchley was petrified.

“But I wasn’t kind either.” Diggory replied, knowing exactly what Harry meant. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing, really.” He shrugged it off.

“So,” the boy started, happy to have cleared the air, “would you like to buy something?”

“Err… yeah, I’ll take these!” He grabbed some pink earmuffs from the counter.

“Earmuffs?” Cedric laughed.

“Well, you never know when you’re going to deal with some Mandrakes.”

Cedric smiled and Harry paid for the earmuffs with some coins from his pocket.

“You were our first client, thank you for your business.”

“Oh, really? I feel honored.” Harry laughed.

“Ced, dear, have you seen the…? Oh.” Mrs. Diggory walked into the shop from the back door. “Mr. Potter, good morning.”

“Mrs. Diggory, hi.”

“Mum, Potter here was our first client.” Cedric said.

“That’s awesome! Did you take the picture, Ced?” The woman asked with a huge smile on her face.

“Well… no, I don’t know if he…”

“I don’t mind” Harry blurted.

“Well, Cedric pose with him!” She said as she took a small camera from her apron.

Harry hugged Cedric from his shoulder and Cedric grabbed Harry from his waist, Harry put on his newly-bought earmuffs and both had their thumbs up and smiled as Mrs. Diggory took the picture.

Mrs. Diggory thanked Harry as he walked out of the shop.

“Thanks, Potter, my mom wanted to have proof of our first sale.”

“It’s alright, it was fun.”

“Yeah, it was.” Cedric murmured. “I was wrong about you, Potter.”

“You thought I was some evil Slytherin?” Harry was amused.

“No, that never even crossed my mind.” He denied immediately.

“Why then?”

“Because you’re friends with Malfoy.”

“Oh. Draco, he’s… uh difficult, yes. But he is good at heart.” He tried to defend his best friend.

“Is he really?” The Hufflepuff raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, he is.” Harry laughed. “See you later, Diggory.”

“Cedric.”

“I’m sorry?”

“You can call me Cedric, _Harry_.” He offered.

“Alright, _Cedric_.” Harry smiled at him before walking away.


	2. Catching up at Florian's.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cedric was curious about what happened at the Chamber of Secrets last year and Harry was more than happy to fill him in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize in advance for any mistakes, I wrote this at 03:27 a. m.

**Chapter 2:**

**Catching up at Florian’s.**

Harry had spent the last couple of weeks helping Cedric at _Mrs. Diggory’s Botanical Novelties_ , the shop had grown very successful, and soon, both Cedric and his mother were very busy. Harry helped them with simple tasks such as rearranging the books or watering some of the plants, nothing too difficult, since he wasn’t much of an expert when it came to Herbology. He had been lucky he had shared that class with Gryffindor for the past two years, if it weren’t for Hermione both he and Draco would have failed it.

When it came to lunchtime, Mrs. Diggory would momentarily close the shop and walk up to the Leaky Cauldron with the two boys and have whatever Tom, the owner, would claim was the dish of the day. The food at the Leaky Cauldron wasn’t necessarily creative, but it wasn’t expensive, Harry had offered many times to pay for the Diggory’s food but Mrs. Diggory would refuse him every time.

Harry had also met Amos Diggory, Cedric’s father, he would occasionally join them for lunch. Amos was a kind man, Cedric had his eyes. At first, Amos was a little wary of Harry, having heard everything The Daily Prophet had to say about the boy.

“They’re nothing but a bunch of lies, dad.” Cedric had told him one day after lunch, and Amos had no reason to not believe his son.

Some days, when there wasn’t much to do at the shop, they would have some milkshakes at Florian Fortescue’s. Harry was happy to have a Hufflepuff friend again, most of them had stopped speaking to him last year when they thought he was the Heir of Slytherin.

“Can I ask you something?” Cedric asked before slurping the last remains of his chocolate milkshake.

“Sure.”

“What happened at the Chamber of Secrets?”

“Oh.” Harry hadn’t anticipated that question. “I’ll try to keep it short.”

Cedric ordered another milkshake, he was hoping Harry wouldn’t keep it short.

Harry started telling Cedric all about Lockhart’s fraud, how he took Ron’s wand to erase their memories and the spell bounced back to him, Ron was unconscious and so was Lockhart, so Harry told Draco to stay with them and that he would go get Ginny.

“When I arrived, Ginny was unconscious on the floor with the diary of Tom Riddle in her hands.” Harry didn’t know if Cedric knew who Tom Riddle was, but he would find out soon. “I tried to wake her up, and then Riddle appeared.”

Cedric was slurping his second chocolate milkshake as quietly as he could.

“Turns out he was taking Ginny’s life force for himself so he could stop being just a memory from the diary and come back to life, as Lord Voldemort.” Cedric almost choked on his milkshake. “When he revealed himself to me I freaked out, I tried to wake her up again, only this time I didn’t realize I had spoken in parseltongue and then, Ginny Weasley wasn’t the only one who had woken up.”

Harry was enjoying himself with Cedric’s reaction, the older boy was literally at the edge of his seat.

“The Monster had come out of Salazar Slytherin’s statue, it was a basilisk, Ginny and I started running from it, when suddenly, we saw _Fawkes_ , Dumbledore’s phoenix, flying above us. It was carrying the Sorting Hat.” Harry said as dramatically as possible. “It dropped the Sorting Hat on our feet and flew straight to the basilisk.”

“Foolish bird.” Cedric whispered.

“ _Fawkes_ literally took the basilisk’s eyeballs out.” Harry was sure Cedric would have choked on his milkshake after that, but Cedric had already finished it. “Suddenly, something appeared inside the Sorting Hat: it was the sword of Godric Gryffindor.”

“And you took it.” Cedric said, sure of himself.

“Ginny did, I’m not a Gryffindor, remember?” Cedric’s reaction was priceless. If only Harry had Mrs. Diggory’s camera. “Then, the basilisk bit me, one of its fangs was buried in my arm.”

“Merlin’s favourite fluffy bathrobe!” Cedric’s eyes and mouth were wide open in surprise. Harry laughed.

“Ginny was furious. The basilisk’s fate was sealed the moment she touched that sword, I closed my eyes and Ginny had already killed it.” Harry tried and failed to describe the scene. “I was feeling very weak, Riddle wasn’t pleased with the basilisk’s demise, but he certainly was with my weakened state.”

Cedric was worried, he feared for Harry’s safety, completely forgetting about the fact that he was in front of him telling the story.

“I dragged myself across the floor to reach the diary, and when I did I took the basilisk’s fang out of my arm and buried it deep within the diary.” Harry lowered his voice. “Ink started to come out of the diary as if it were blood and when I looked up, Riddle was gone. Ginny ran after me and I thought I would die in her arms but I suddenly started to feel better, _Fawkes_ …”

“Phoenix tears have healing properties.” Cedric sighed in relief.

“Yes.” Harry smiled. “Ginny helped me get out of the Chamber and we reunited with Ron, Draco, and Lockhart, then we took turns with _Fawkes_ , who took us all out of there.”

“And then you spent a week at the Hospital Wing with Madame Pomfrey working ‘round the clock on your arm.” The Hufflepuff added.

“Indeed.” Harry laughed.

They left some coins on the table at Florian’s, said goodbye through the window, and left.

“Have you heard anything from your friends?” Cedric asked as he walked Harry back to the Leaky Cauldron.

“Yes, they’re coming this weekend to buy their stuff, and then off to Hogwarts!” Harry said with a smile on his face.

“Last minute buys, huh?” Cedric did not wait for an answer. “Are you excited about your third year?”

“I am! with a little luck, it will be a peaceful year.”

“I don’t know about peaceful, but professor Trelawney will certainly make it an interesting year.” The older boy laughed.

They didn’t realize but they had already reached Harry’s room door at the Leaky Cauldron.

“Goodnight, Harry.”

“Goodnight, Cedric.”


	3. Friends, old and new.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's friends arrive at Diagon Alley and introductions are in order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I apologize in advance for any mistakes, inspiration seems to come at me in the middle of the night. I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

**Chapter 3:**

**Friends, old and new.**

Harry didn’t even realize when the weekend had arrived. The day before had been a very busy one at _Mrs. Diggory’s Botanical Novelties_ since it was the last weekend before the start of the school year. Diagon Alley as a whole was as crowded as possible and people were very curious when they noticed the Diggorys’ new addition to the row of shops. Mrs. Diggory even paid Harry a small wage that day, Harry wouldn’t take it, so Cedric had to force the coins inside the boy’s pocket and when he returned, completely defeated, to the Leaky Cauldron at the end of the day, Harry got inside the pajamas Draco had gifted him and went to bed, completely forgetting about the fact that his friends would be there next morning.

The sunlight filtering through Harry’s window wasn’t enough to wake him up, but all the shouting downstairs was. Harry dragged himself out of bed and without taking a look at the mirror, he put his green slippers on and walked out of his room to look directly in the eyes of the inconsiderate persons that decided to have a screaming contest on a Sunday morning.

“Why would you even get a pet?!” A familiar voice shouted.

“A girl gets lonely sometimes, Ronald!” He heard her say. “Besides, it was making eyes at me through the storefront.”

“Well, then you better watch it closely, Hermione.” Harry could now see his friends from the top of the wooden stairwell. “I’m serious! It gave a Scabbers a funny look earlier!”

“My _Crookshanks_ wouldn’t- ! Harry!” Hermione looked up and there was their friend, staring at them.

Harry smiled at them and ran downstairs as fast as he could to meet his friends, and once he reached them, he hugged them so tight _Crookshanks_ jumped out of Hermione’s arms.

“When did you two get here?” The Slytherin asked when he let them go.

“Like an hour ago, we had breakfast with Ron’s family and then-”

“Nice outfit, Potter.” Said a voice behind them.

It was Draco Malfoy, fresh out of the fireplace, the huge smile on his face wrinkled his gray eyes.

Harry froze for a moment and stared in surprise at the blond boy. Draco had waited all summer to see his best friend, and he wasn’t going to wait one more second: he swiftly walked up to Harry and embraced him in his arms.

“I missed you.” Draco whispered in his ear.

“I missed you, too.” Harry hugged him tighter.

“Unbelievable!” Ron huffed. “We’re still here!”

“Ron, shut up!” Hermione punched him lightly on his shoulder.

“Yes, Weasley, do shut up.” Malfoy added, letting go of Harry.

“I better go change clothes.” Harry said pointing out his pajama. “All of you, catch up in the meantime, I’ll be right back.”

As Harry ran up to his room again, he could still hear Ron complaining to Hermione about her cat and Harry couldn’t hold his smile any longer, he had missed his friends, and he had missed Draco even more.

As soon as he entered the room, he threw the pajama over his unmade bed and grabbed his nearest clean outfit from the laundry bag. His hair was a mess as usual, but since his friends had already seen him that way, he saw no reason to try and tame it.

As he walked down the stairs for the second time that morning, he got a glimpse of Draco petting _Crookshanks_ , the cat seemed to like him very much.

“From the way you were dressed earlier, am I right to assume you haven’t had breakfast yet?” Draco raised one eyebrow.

“Yeah, but I don't care, I’m not hungry, we should go buy your things.”

“But I do care.” Draco replied as he dragged a chair from under the table. “Sit.”

Harry rolled his eyes at his friend and took the seat, he ordered some toast and pumpkin juice.

“So, Ron.” Harry called as he took a bite from his toast. “How was Egypt?”

“I was hoping you’d ask!” The redhead smiled. “It was awesome! Bill took us to all these creepy tombs that had like a million curses on them, it was truly terrifying!”

“I even cut out the picture The Daily Prophet took of your family!” Harry said. “I have it upstairs.”

“We all know Scabbers was the real star of that photo.” Hermione added quietly, Ron grunted.

“You do know that picture is going to haunt you for the rest of your life, don’t you, Weasley?” Draco laughed.

“Ignore them, I thought you looked very handsome.” Draco grunted this time. “Anyway, where’s your family?”

“Oh, they’re already buying everything.” Ron replied calmly. “I asked them to buy Hermione’s and my stuff so we could have some time to catch up.”

“And your parents, Draco?” Hermione asked.

“My mother’s coming later today to get me.” The blond replied. “As for my father, well, let’s say he isn’t exactly happy with me since I set Dobby free at the end of last year.”

“Did you tell him Dumbledore hired him at Hogwarts?” Harry asked before taking the last bite of his toast.

“Yes, it didn’t exactly please him either.”

After Harry was done with his food, Draco hurried to pay for it before Harry could. Hermione was amused at the scene.

“Hermione, you haven’t told us about your summer.” Ron realized as the wall leading to Diagon Alley disappeared before them.

“Well, you haven’t asked.” She said, stroking _Crookshanks_ fur. “It was… pretty uneventful, to be honest.”

“I can attest to that.” Harry added. “ _Muggle_ summers can be pretty boring.”

They started walking down Diagon Alley, Draco was the only one who hadn’t bought his things for the school year yet so, whenever he entered a shop everyone else would come in, too.

Soon, Draco’s hands were pretty busy holding a bunch of books, Harry had helped him taking in his arms a new Slytherin robe he had bought, Draco said the other one didn’t fit him anymore, and Harry believed him, the blond had grown even taller than Ron over the summer.

“You must have grown sick of this place.” Draco said loudly. “Trapped here since that thing with your aunt.”

“I found things to do.” Harry replied with a slight smile on his face.

“Such as?” Draco inquired.

“Well, I made friends with Cedric Diggory.” Harry said happily. “His mother opened a shop in front of the Owlery, I spent a lot of time there.”

“Outrageous! Did they even pay you?”

“He wouldn’t let us.” Cedric Diggory appeared behind them. “Good morning, Harry.”

“Did no one tell you how rude it is listening to- ?!”

“Draco, shut up.” Harry had put a hand on his shoulder. “Cedric, good morning. These are my friends.”

“I can see that.” Cedric replied, charming as ever. “Nice to meet you.”

Hermione shook Cedric’s hand as she introduced herself, Ron tried to follow her lead but stammered half of the words that left his lips.

“And this one,” Harry started, “is Dra- ”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, Potter.” Draco warned.

“Anyway.” Cedric ignored Malfoy. “I hope to see you all tomorrow on the train, have a pleasant day!”

“I sincerely hope not.” Draco whispered as Harry, Ron, and Hermione said their goodbyes.

“Draco, what was all that about?” Harry asked, visibly annoyed.

“He was so smug!” Draco complained. “With his perfect hair and his ‘good morning, Harry’, ugh!”

“He wasn’t smug, you were!” Harry raised his voice.

“Whatever.” Draco dismissed his friend’s complaints.

Harry grew less annoyed at Draco as the day went by, they had lunch with the Weasleys at the Leaky Cauldron later that day and Narcissa picked up Draco just before nightfall.

“I’ll see you all tomorrow.” Draco said before disappearing in the fireplace with the green flames. “Don’t be late!”

Hermione and the Weasleys would be staying at the Leaky Cauldron that night, and tomorrow morning they would all go together to King’s Cross. Harry went to bed that night with a smile on his face.


	4. The Sleeping Man.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry, his friends, and a mysterious new professor get an unwanted visit from Azkaban's guards.

**Chapter 4:**

**The Sleeping Man.**

That morning, Harry had been the first to wake up. He had only slept a couple of hours but he was full of energy anyway. He and Hermione were breathing behind the Weasleys’ necks to try and get them to hurry up, Ron was the one who had struggled the most in getting out of bed.

Harry and Hermione left their trunks and _Hedwig_ ’s cage downstairs and left for a last stroll down Diagon Alley. It was barely ten in the morning and most shops were still closed, Florian Fortescue’s ice cream parlor was one of them, to Harry’s disappointment, who had hopes of one last chocolate milkshake that summer.

“Do you think Cedric’s still here?” Hermione asked.

Harry suspected Hermione had a little crush on Cedric, the funny thing was, Hermione suspected the same thing about Harry.

“I don’t think so, they open at eleven o'clock.” Harry remembered.

Hermione sighed in disappointment.

“But should we go and try our luck?” The Slytherin raised an eyebrow.

The pair locked their arms together and walked down the street in agreement, Harry saw Cedric in every boy he saw, but the Hufflepuff was nowhere to be seen.

“Well, that was a waste of time.” Hermione said after they found Mrs. Diggory’s shop closed.

“Do you think prefects have to get there a little earlier?” Harry asked staring at the closed door.

“I don’t think so, Percy would have made sure we knew all about it.” She laughed.

Before they got back to the Leaky Cauldron, Harry slipped under Florian’s door a thank you note he had written the night before.

_Mr. Fortescue,_

_Thank you for all your help and delicious milkshakes, I’ll never forget them._

_Harry._

When they got inside the Weasleys were already waiting at the door, _Crookshanks_ was in Ginny’s arms.

“Come on, everyone, the cars are waiting outside.” Arthur Weasley said and walked out the door.

There were two strange-looking cars parked in the street just outside the Leaky Cauldron. Mr. Weasley, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Percy, and their belongings got in the first one. According to Mr. Weasley, the cars were sent from the Ministry of Magic.

They arrived at King’s Cross just ten minutes before the train left, they got their stuff out of the cars’ trunks and, one by one walked into the barrier that would lead them to Platform 9 ¾.

Arthur and Molly Weasley helped the kids get their trunks on the train, but just as Harry was getting in Arthur put a hand on his shoulder.

“Harry, may I have a quick word?”

“Sure.” Harry replied taking a quick look at the golden clock above them.

“Harry.” Mr. Weasley called lowering his voice. “I must ask you to be extremely careful this year.”

“I always am, sir.” Mr. Weasley huffed at the boy.

“Dear boy.” Arthur looked at him with puppy eyes. “You must believe me when I tell you this is not the year for adventures.”

Harry’s confusion must have been reflected on his face as Mr. Weasley proceeded to elaborate.

“Do you know who Sirius Black is, Harry?” Mr. Weasley asked, wary of their surroundings.

“A criminal.” Harry replied instantly. “He just escaped from Azkaban.”

“Yes, but do you know what he wants?”

Harry nodded in response, he didn’t know.

“Sirius Black was You-know-who’s accomplice.” Arthur was looking directly into Harry’s eyes. “And now that he’s escaped Azkaban, we think he’s after you.”

“Arthur!” Mrs. Weasley called pointing at the clock.

“Harry, promise me one thing.” Mr. Weasley grabbed him from his shoulders. “Promise me that, no matter what you hear, you won’t look for Black.”

“Mr. Weasley, why would I look for someone who wants to kill me?” Harry said as he stepped on the train.

Harry caught up with Ron and Hermione, they said goodbye to Ron’s parents from a window, and started the search for an empty cabin.

“I think that’s as close as we’re getting to an empty one.” Ron said pointing at a compartment occupied only by a sleeping man.

Harry’s hopes of finding Draco evaporated as they sat inside the sleeping man’s cabin.

“Who do you think he is?” Ron asked.

“His name is R. J. Lupin.” Hermione swiftly replied.

“And how on earth would you know that?” The redhead inquired.

“It says so in his trunk.” Hermione shrugged it off.

“I need to tell you something.” Harry said as he checked the doors were closed.

Harry lowered his voice, wary of the sleeping man, and told his friends all about Mr. Weasley’s recent warnings.

“I don’t think you need to worry.” Ron said. “As long as Dumbledore is Headmaster nothing’s gonna happen to you.”

“Honestly Ron.” Hermione rolled her eyes. “We’ve said that for the last two years, it’s not exactly true, is it?”

The train abruptly stopped before Ron could defend his point of view.

“What’s with the new stop?” Harry asked as the lights went out.

The air around turned so cold they could see mist leaving their noses as they breathed. With every passing second, the temperature dropped colder, and suddenly outside the cabin, three tall, hooded humanoid creatures were standing in the corridor. Harry could somehow feel them staring at him but their eyes were nowhere to be seen.

The door to the cabin slowly opened before them, letting the creatures in. _Crookshanks_ and _Scabbers_ looked for safety inside their owners' arms as the creatures grew closer, Harry tried to grab his wand when one of the creatures closed in on him and pulled back its hood and starting sucking more than air from a hole in what seemed to be its head.

Harry felt weak, he lost his balance and fell, he could hear a woman screaming but he couldn’t see her, all he could see was the creature in front of him inhaling whatever joy Harry had in him when suddenly, a thick, white fog flooded the place and Harry lost consciousness.

When Harry regained consciousness the lights were on again and the train seemed to be moving, the landscape out the window seemed familiar.

“Harry are you okay?” The previously asleep man asked. “I’m professor Remus Lupin. Here, take this.”

Lupin basically shoved a piece of chocolate inside Harry’s mouth, Harry would have protested but he was hungry and the chocolate made him feel better.

“What happened?” Harry asked after swallowing the rest of the chocolate. “What were those creatures?”

“Those, Harry, were Dementors, Azkaban’s guards.” Lupin replied. “They were looking for Sirius Black, but instead they found you.”

Lupin’s tone was monotonously somber, Harry could tell he was upset.

“What did they do to me?” Harry continued. “It got very cold, and then it started to feel like as if they were draining me of-“

“Any happiness?” The professor inquired. “Dementors feed off of happy memories, sometimes that can cause you to relive your darkest memories.”

“I heard a woman, she was screaming.” Ron and Hermione looked at each other in confusion. “I think it was my mother.”

Lupin looked the other way as Harry mentioned his mother.

“I need to go check something with the driver.” Lupin walked to the door. “I suggest you change clothes, I think we’re almost there.”

As Lupin left the cabin, Harry thought of Draco and Cedric. He didn’t see them at the station and now he could only hope they were alright.


	5. Could it be… Jealousy?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco reconnects with some of his old friends and Harry has some mixed feelings about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Chapter 5:**

**Could it be… Jealousy?**

After his encounter with the dementor, Harry felt a little lightheaded and Ron had to help him get off the train. Harry couldn’t help feeling grateful that their things would get from the train to the common room through magic, though he lamented that they couldn’t do the same with students, he was exhausted and the walk from Hogsmeade’s station to Hogwarts wasn’t exactly short.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked together to the comfort of the carriages. Harry hadn’t seen Cedric yet, but he had a glimpse of Draco earlier as they got off the train, he was laughing with Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, and Pansy Parkinson. Harry liked them, after all, they had all been friends since their first year, not exactly the closest friends, but friends nonetheless. Blaise was clever, Theo was reliable and Pansy, even though she could be really annoying, had her heart in the right place, much like Draco, Harry thought.

“Don’t you think it’s funny that Draco told us to ‘not be late’ and then proceeded to catch the train with someone else?” Harry asked, even though he didn’t find it funny himself.

“Is that jealousy I smell?” Hermione teased and Harry rolled his eyes.

“I wouldn’t look too much into it, Harry.” The redheaded boy suggested. “They’ve been friends since childhood, maybe he just wanted to reconnect with them.”

“Well, he could’ve said that, instead of ‘don’t be late’.” Harry huffed. “And what do you mean by ‘reconnect’? We share a room with them, we have had study dates with Pansy, what is there to reconnect?”

“Ah yes, the smell of jealousy, indeed.” Hermione joked.

“Harry, you must admit that Draco has been spending a little too much of his time for the last two years playing giant chess games and uncovering secret chambers with us.” Ron remembered him. “A little normal from time to time can do wonders for a boy.”

“I can do normal.” Harry whispered to himself as they reached the carriages.

It was Harry’s first carriage ride to Hogwarts since he had other ways of making an entrance in his first two courses. He would have a look at the other carriages around them just in case he saw Cedric but the Hufflepuff was nowhere to be seen, in comparison to Draco, who was having fun with his childhood friends two carriages away. Harry looked at the blond boy, hoping he would look back at him, but Draco didn’t even realize Harry’s eyes were on him.

After the carriage ride, the trio walked through the long and crooked wooden bridge that led them to the nature-consumed courtyard under the Clock Tower. His legs were trembling from climbing the stairs inside the Clock Tower but Harry felt at home.

They were on their way to the Gryffindor Tower when Ron claimed he could smell the food on the kitchens, but it was as they were walking down the Great Staircase when he said, very confident in his food sniffing habilities, that “they could expect chocolate cake for dessert”.

When they finally arrived at the Great Hall, Harry parted ways with Ron and Hermione to get to the Slytherin table, Draco sat at his side as he arrived with Blaise, Theo, and Pansy. The blond acknowledged Harry’s existence by resting his head on his shoulder for a quick second but he didn’t bother to say hello, as he intended to continue his conversation, which was cut short by that year’s Sorting Ceremony.

Only after every last one of the first-year students was assigned a House, Dumbledore stood up at the center of the professor’s table and welcomed them all to a new year at Hogwarts, followed by a customary round of applause.

After the clapping settled, Dumbledore introduced the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, professor Remus Lupin. Snape looked particularly disgusted at professor Lupin’s mention, but then again, when did he not look particularly disgusted? The banquet finally began as the Headmaster returned to his seat.

Harry was trying to eat his kidney pie in peace when Marcus Flint, the Slytherin _quidditch_ team captain, thought it best to make an appearance and ask Harry if he had practiced over the summer.

“Marcus, I basically turned my aunt into a balloon this summer.” Harry blurted in annoyance. “I was then confined to the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of the summer. Where or when was I supposed to practice, huh? _Ollivander’s_ roof at the crack of dawn?”

“I’m just saying, Potter.” Flint raised his hands as if he was pleading innocent. “Diggory’s not only Hufflepuff’s seeker now, but he was also named Hufflepuff’s captain. We must not take Hufflepuff for granted this year.”

Harry hummed in response, Cedric didn’t tell him about the captain thing over the summer, in fact, he had only mentioned briefly that he was to become a prefect that year.

As dessert appeared before him, Ron winked from the other side of the room, he had bits of chocolate cake plastered on his face. Harry meant to return his attention to Marcus Flint’s _quidditch_ rantings, but someone at the Hufflepuff table caught his eye: Cedric Diggory had finally shown up and his gray eyes were staring directly at Harry, but he had trouble reading the Hufflepuff’s expression.

Once the banquet was over, Dumbledore stood up again and announced with a grim expression, in front of a legion of silent students, that in light of recent events, and as “a protective measure”, the Dementors would guard the castle’s grounds for the time being, and as he wished them a good night, he urged them to be careful and stay away from said creatures. Chills ran through Harry’s spine.

Harry left the Great Hall with Draco, Blaise, Theo, and Pansy, listening, but not being an active part of their conversation about who had the biggest estate. Harry was lost in his resentful thoughts when suddenly someone touched his shoulder, he turned around and there was Cedric, towering in front of him.

“Harry, are you alright? I heard you fainted on the train.” Cedric asked, his tone exuded so much worry. Draco’s expression turned from disgust to surprise.

“Don’t worry, it was nothing.” Harry replied, completely aware that it was, in fact, something.

“Nothing? Are you kidding? Those dementors were not even supposed to be there, it must have been terrifying!” Cedric embraced the Slytherin boy into a quick hug. By then, Cedric’s words had already made Draco’s jaw drop to the floor.

“We were lucky enough to have professor Lupin in our cabin.” Harry added, enjoying the attention. “By the way, where were you, Mr. Captain? I looked everywhere for you!”

“So you’ve heard about that.” Cedric smiled. “I was with the other prefects, I guess that’s why we didn’t run into each other.”

“Cedric Diggory, an elitist Hufflepuff socialite, who would have thought?” Harry teased.

“You know that’s not true!” The Hufflepuff giggled. “Anyway Harry, I have to lead the first-years to the Hufflepuff common room, have a good night!”

“You too, Ced!” Harry said as his friend walked away. “See you around!”

Cedric’s appearance had lifted Harry’s spirits and he walked the rest of the way to the Slytherin Common Room with a huge smile on his face, completely unaware of Draco Malfoy’s resentful gaze. As they reached the common room’s entrance the new password was revealed to them, it was “ _Salazar’s beard_ ”.

Only after they got inside the common room Harry realized just how much he had missed over the summer the sophisticated smell of the dark leather sofas and the windows overlooking the depths of the Black Lake.

While most Slytherins stayed in the common room, Harry decided to go to bed. When he entered the dorm room everyone’s things were already there, Hedwig hooted at him as he got out his pajama from the trunk.

Just as Harry meant to turn off the lights, someone else joined him in the dorm room: it was Draco, with his arms crossed.

“You didn’t tell me you fainted on the train.” Draco said coldly.

“Oh, he speaks!” Harry faked a surprise tone as he buried the back of his head on the pillow. “I would have told you, had I know where you were. I was under the impression that we were catching the train together since you were the one that urged us to ‘not be late’.”

“It was my father’s idea to catch the train with them.” Draco replied. “He thinks that I’ve neglected some of my old friendships- “

“Because of me?” Harry scoffed.

“I never said that!” Draco cut in. “The thing is, I enjoyed spending time with them again. It reminded me of simpler times. More normal times.”

“Normal.” Harry whispered.

What is even normal anyway? Harry thought to himself. To him, normal was a messy morning at Privet Drive, cooking breakfast for the Dursley’s. What could “normal” mean to Draco Malfoy, a boy raised in a household where magic was celebrated instead of condemned?

“Besides, you’re getting awfully close with Diggory!” The blond grunted. “Is it so bad for me to reconnect with some old friends? I thought you liked them!”

“I do like them!” Harry replied, not sure where the conversation was going. “I just thought it was unusual, that’s all! I’m sorry for making a big deal out of it.”

Hermione was usually right, but could she be right about that? Was Harry jealous? He had never thought of himself as a jealous person.

“It’s alright, you’ve had a long day.” Draco sighed.

“But you need to be nicer to Cedric!” Harry blurted as he turned the lights off.

“Fine!” Draco replied before joining the others in the common room. “But you need to hang out more with people from our own House! Those study dates are lame.”

“Fine!”


	6. An omen of death!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and his friends attend an interesting Divination class, and all hell breaks loose on Hagrid's first class as the new Care of Magical Creatures proffesor.

**Chapter 6:**

**An omen of death!**

The Divination’s classroom was the strangest classroom Harry had ever been in, it was at the top of a stairwell in the North Tower, and the only way in was through a trap door that led to the tower’s attic. The classroom itself looked like an old fashioned tea shop, there were several little round tables, all of them with a crystal ball and a tea set on top, and around every table, there were five cushions for the students to sit on.

Harry sat with Draco, Blaise, Theo, and Pansy. Both Blaise and Draco were very skeptical about taking Divination, but Pansy, Theo, and Harry couldn’t help feeling curious. Harry had previously heard a lot of Sybill Trelawney slander from both Draco and Cedric, and although he had seen the woman before, and thought her very excentric, this would be Harry’s first time meeting her.

Across the room, Ron and Hermione sat with Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, and Neville Longbottom. At that table, Ron and Hermione were the skeptical ones, Lavender Brown was all smiles, and Parvati couldn’t stop giggling while she polished the crystal ball with her robe, as for Neville, he was smiling, but Neville was always smiling so he could be hard to read sometimes.

“Did Granger change her hair?” Pansy asked loudly, making Hermione turn around.

Harry hadn’t noticed, but Hermione had indeed changed her hair, she kept her old hairstyle but it was considerably shorter.

“Yes, I think she has.” Theo replied, narrowing his eyes.

“Well, it suits her. She looks pretty.” Pansy said very loudly, making Hermione blush.

“I’m very sorry for the delay.” Sybill Trelawney cut in as she emerged from the trapdoor. “I had a revelation in the loo.”

Professor Trelawney did not elaborate on her loo revelation, but she stood up behind her own particular tea table and cleared her throat.

“You’re all here today because you have decided to invest in your future by learning one of the finest magical arts, Divination.” Trelawney didn’t have his wardrobe, but Harry could hear Gilderoy Lockhart’s voice in her. “I’m professor Sybill Trelawney and I will guide you through this tumultuous journey.”

Trelawney started walking among the students, humming unintelligibly things to herself.

“However, I can sense there will be some of you, who despite their best efforts, will be unable to open their minds and see past the mundane.” Trelawney said somberly. “In which case, there’s very little I can do for those poor, unfortunate souls, and my best advice would be to abandon all hope and drop out of the class the minute they realize of their impediments.”

Professor Trelawney finally sat down behind her table and proceeded to pour herself some tea in one of the little china cups, after taking a sip, she announced that that day’s subject would be Tessomancy and that they would read the tea leaves left behind in their cups with the help of _Unfogging the Future_ by Cassandra Vablatsky.

Draco was the first to drink up, the rounded table was so small there could only be one book on top of it and it was Blaise’s. Everyone had trouble reading their tea leaves, Lavender Brown had stuck her tongue out in concentration as she had a quick look at Hermione’s book and then returned her gaze to the bottom of her china cup.

“Does anyone here has a pet rabbit?” Trelawney asked after analyzing her tea leaves, Lavender had raised her hand in response to the professor’s question. “Dear girl, I advise you to send an owl home immediately. I sense great danger.”

“When does she not?” Blaise whispered to himself as Lavender left the room in a hurry.

Neville, who had not heard the rumors surrounding Sybill Trelawney, raised his hand to ask for assistance in his reading.

“Longbottom, is it?” The professor asked squinting her eyes into the cup. “I think it best for you to go hurry along with Miss Brown to the Owlery, tell your grandmother to avoid any stairs for the next fortnight.”

“Can I please have some assistance here, professor?” Draco grabbed Harry’s cup as he raised his hand.

The blond Slytherin smirked as Trelawney made her way through their table. As she read Harry’s cup, which Draco had handed her, she let out an agonizing scream.

“Whose cup is this?!” She panicked. “Is this yours?!”

“It’s actually Harry’s.” Draco mumbled in confusion.

“Mr. Potter, oh boy.” Trelawney lamented as she embraced Harry’s face with the palm of her hands. “I’m sorry to tell you you’ll be dead before the end of the year.”

“It’s The Grim!” Theo shouted as he analyzed the bottom of Harry’s cup. “An omen of death!”

“This can’t be really happening.” Hermione sighed as she took the final sip of her tea.

Harry underestimated Cedric when he said professor Trelawney would make it an interesting year.

The rest of the class was uneventful compared to the intense first five minutes and Harry didn’t look forward to being in that classroom again. After they left through the trapdoor, the group made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast.

“I’m so sorry, Harry.” Nott apologized. “I would have stayed silent had I known how Trelawney was like.”

“I mean, you did witness her predictions for Brown and Longbottom.” Blaise cut in. “You should have had developed an image of the kind of maniac we were dealing with.”

“Don’t worry about it, Theo.” Harry replied. “Now I’m even more eager for Hagrid’s debut as the new Care of Magical Creatures professor.”

Draco sighed at the mention of Hagrid. In the last two years, Harry had changed Draco’s mind about a lot of things, but Hagrid wasn’t one of them, and while the blond didn’t have any particular problem with him, he thought Hagrid was very irresponsible and shouldn’t have been hired as a professor.

After they were done with breakfast, third-year Gryffindors and Slytherins made their way to Hagrid’s hut, where he was eagerly waiting for them to teach his first class. Hagrid presented himself as _Professor Hagrid_ , winked an eye at Harry, and led them to a clear located not too deep within the forest.

In the clear, tied to a wooden post there was a creature Harry had never seen before, it was half-eagle, half-horse, it had wide wings, silver-colored feathers, and a golden beak, Hagrid had described it as a beauty, and in a certain way, it was.

“This is _Buckbeak_ , the hippogriff!” Hagrid presented the creature almost yelling in excitement.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Draco murmured loudly enough for Hermione to shush him.

“Hippogriffs are very proud creatures.” Hagrid explained. “Don’t disrespect them, because if you do that might be the last thing you do. Now, who wants to come and say hello to _Buckbeak_ here?”

The class was dead silent, and Harry couldn’t help feeling bad for his friend, so he took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and took a step forward.

“I will.” Harry said, sounding almost defeated, he could hear Lavender Brown saying something about The Grim in the back.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Draco whispered in a failed attempt to hold him back.

“Ah, Harry! Perfect, come here!” Hagrid called with a huge smile on his face. “First you’ve got to look directly into _Buckbeak_ ’s eyes, but please don’t blink.”

Harry did as he was told and stared at the hippogriff's golden eyes, his eyes were exaggeratedly wide open since he was scared of blinking. _Buckbeak_ nodded his head, not losing visual contact with Harry for one second.

“Very well done, Harry!” Hagrid congratulated him. “Now you’ve got to bow to him from your head.”

Harry grunted but he still bowed to the hippogriff, he felt vulnerable exposing himself to a creature so unpredictable. Harry raised his head a little only to find out _Buckbeak_ had bowed to him as well, Harry smiled in satisfaction.

“That means he’s gonna let you touch him!” Hagrid almost jumped in excitement. “Here, pat his beak. A round of applause for Harry, everyone!”

Everyone clapped for Harry except for Draco, who stared at Harry petting the hippogriff with a worried gaze.

 _Buckbeak_ was enjoying the attention, both from Harry’s touch and the students clapping. The hippogriff got closer to Harry and with a swift movement of his beak he threw the boy to his back, where he instinctively grabbed _Buckbeak_ ’s feathers in order to not fall. The students were horrified at the hippogriff’s actions, and before Hagrid could do or say anything, _Buckbeak_ ran through the clear with Harry on his back, and with a kick on the ground, he took flight.

Harry was holding on to _Buckbeak_ for dear life, the wind was aggressively blowing on his face, and as Harry opened his eyes he noticed they were several meters above the ground now.

 _Buckbeak_ flew way faster than his broom, Harry thought. They were flying above the Black Lake when _Buckbeak_ , showing off, descended in order to touch the surface, Harry felt the breeze on his face, he was no longer scared, in fact, he was enjoying the ride, and he trusted _Buckbeak_.

When _Buckbeak_ decided it was time to come back to the clear, the scene was chaotic: Malfoy was berating Hagrid in front of the whole class.

“What made you think it was safe?!” Draco yelled. “Your beast basically kidnapped Harry!”

“I think kidnap is a very strong word, Malfoy!” Hagrid looked up only to find _Buckbeak_ descending on the clear, Harry safe and sound on his back. “Look, they’ve come back! …Oh, no!”

But something had changed in _Buckbeak_ ’s eyes as he saw Malfoy’s actions toward Hagrid, the hippogriff charged against the boy, Harry fell on his back and Draco cried out in pain.

“ _BUCKBEAK!_ ” Hagrid screamed with his hands in the air in an attempt to calm down the hippogriff, who proceeded to sit on the ground, uninterested in the scene that was taking place or Draco’s crying.

“I told you the beast was dangerous, Hagrid!” Draco yelled, unsure if it was from anger, pain, or both. “I told you, and now he has killed me!”

“He didn’t kill you!” Hagrid hesitated. “It’s just a scratch!”

“For Merlin’s beard, Hagrid! Take him to the Infirmary!” Harry yelled.

“Class dismissed!” Hagrid said as he took Malfoy in his arms and hurried back to the castle.

That wasn’t going to end well, Harry thought as Pansy and Blaise helped him get on his feet again. Harry didn’t know who he was worried about the most: Hagrid or Draco.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to drop Hagrid's accent in this since english is not my first language and I didn't want to risk messing things up.  
> I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!


	7. Puppy eyes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry has a fall out with Draco over Hagrid and Buckbeak and Cedric is there to comfort him.

**Chapter 7:**

**Puppy eyes.**

There were no secrets at Hogwarts, so Harry’s flight, Hagrid and Draco’s showdown in the middle of the Care of Magical Creatures class, and _Buckbeak_ ’s attack were in everyone’s mouth that week.

“It wasn’t that serious!” Hermione scoffed as they were walking to the Great Hall.

“Maybe not.” Pansy replied. “But it was a hippogriff’s attack after all, Hagrid should’ve known better.”

“When is Malfoy getting out of the Infirmary anyway?” Ron grunted.

“This Saturday.” Blaise replied swiftly. “His parents went to see him yesterday.”

“And what happened?” Harry joined the conversation.

“Well, his father was furious at Hagrid.” Blaise added. “He says he wants him out.”

“And what Lucius Malfoy wants, Lucius Malfoy gets.” Harry said with resentment.

“Well, are you surprised?” Ron asked sarcastically. “Last year the man decided to get a bunch of muggle-borns petrified! Not to mention the whole diary thing.”

No one said anything else because that wasn't the official story, it was Harry’s word against Lucius’, but deep down they all knew that was the truth, Lucius Malfoy wasn’t exactly the most pleasant man.

The group drifted away to their respective tables as they reached the Great Hall. Harry was talking to his friends about visiting Draco that afternoon when a familiar Hufflepuff sat beside him at the Slytherin table.

“Cedric, hi.” Harry said, not knowing what to say. Ron and Hermione had never sat there with him.

“The man of the moment.” Cedric smiled. “Will you ride a hippogriff to your _quidditch_ matches now? The first match is Hufflepuff against Slytherin, you know?”

“I’m quite happy with my broom, thank you very much.” Harry laughed. “And I suspect I won’t be getting anywhere closer to _Buckbeak_ in the near future, or for as long as Lucius Malfoy dictates, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Ah, yes your friend’s father.” Cedric said bitterly. “How is he, by the way?”

“Well, he’s not as bad as he made it seem, but he was attacked by a hippogriff after all.” Harry replied. “We’re visiting him later today, I would invite you but I’m guessing you wouldn’t come.”

“I would be delighted, but I’m busy this afternoon.”

Harry raised a playful eyebrow, not really believing him.

“ _Quidditch_ practice, I swear!” Cedric laughed. “But perhaps we could go to Hogsmeade together one day, I don’t see nearly enough of you since school started.”

All of Harry’s friends turned their heads after Cedric’s words, not sure of what to make of it.

“I… err… my uncle didn’t sign my paper.” Harry replied nervously. “And after I turned her sister into a balloon… well, it was too late.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I’ll get you something from Hogsmeade then.” Cedric said with puppy eyes. “We can always hang out in the castle, you know? It’s huge.”

“Yeah, totally!” Harry liked the sound of that.

They both stared awkwardly for a couple of seconds as Cedric stood up from the seat he had taken at the Slytherin table.

“Well, take care, Harry.” Cedric put his hand on Harry’s shoulder for a second and left before Harry could say another word.

“What was that all about?” Pansy asked in awe.

“Yes, Harry, do tell us, what is going on with you and ‘puppy eyes’?” Blaise teased.

“What are you talking about? We just met over the summer, we’re friends.” Harry shrugged it off. “Besides, he’s way older than I am, I’m sure he was just being nice.”

“Way older?” Theo mocked. “He’s gonna turn fifteen next month! You’re thirteen!”

“Wait, so was he ten at the start of his first year?” Harry asked curious.

“Yes, I heard his parents had a talk with Dumbledore about it.” Nott replied without making it too big of a deal.

“How do you even know that?” Pansy asked.

“I’m well connected.” Nott replied and Pansy scoffed at her friend.

“You’re nosy, more like it.” Blaise laughed.

After lunch, the group left the Great Hall and made their way to the Infirmary, but when they arrived, Draco already had two visitors.

“Well, now you know, I don’t think Hagrid is staying in his little hut for much longer.” Draco bragged to Crabbe and Goyle. “Nor is that little beast of him, for that matter.”

“Mr. Malfoy?” Madame Pomfrey called in annoyance. “You’ve got other visitors.”

Harry didn’t like what he had just heard and he didn’t like Crabbe and Goyle either, he thought them brainless and mean. They didn’t like Harry either, but they didn't have the words to elaborate on it, they just didn’t like him, and Harry didn’t really care.

The two boys left at the sight of Harry and the others, and after they came in they stood around Draco’s bed.

“I’m glad you all came.” Draco smiled. “I’ve been feeling way better.”

“Well, there wasn’t much to heal from, was it?” Harry asked bitterly.

“I’m sorry?”

“You’re just putting on a show.” Harry said.

“And why would I that?” Draco sat intrigued.

“You tell me.”

“In case, you didn’t notice, Potter, Hagrid’s beast attacked me.” The blond said.

“Oh, I did notice.” Harry replied. “I also noticed the way you were talking to Hagrid. You seem to forget Hagrid is a professor, Malfoy, and as such you owe him respect.”

“Is anything the matter with you today?” Draco had started to lose his patience.

“As a matter of fact, yes, something is the matter.” Harry spat. “What were you saying to Crabbe and Goyle before? About Hagrid and _Buckbeak_ leaving?”

Blaise, Theo, and Pansy stood awkwardly in their places. That wasn’t exactly what they had in mind for that day’s visit.

“My father’s launching a case against Hagrid and his beast.” Draco replied coldly. “If they lose, Hagrid could lose his post as a professor and as a gatekeeper, as for the beast…”

“What?” Harry inquired. “What about _Buckbeak_?”

“He could be executed.” Draco almost whispered.

“You’re unbelievable! You do realize that none of this would have happened if had you not lost your temper against Hagrid?!” Harry was furious. “Of course _Buckbeak_ attacked you, as far as he knew, you were attacking Hagrid!”

“His beast took you!”

“Yeah, for a flight! Not the land of the dead, you idiot!”

“Mr. Potter, lower your voice or I’m gonna ask you to leave.” Madame Pomfrey warned.

“I was already leaving.” Harry said as he walked at the door.

Harry left the Infirmary not sure as to where to go, he just felt like taking a walk and that’s exactly what he did, he took step after step and when he realized, he had already crossed the wooden bridge. He could see Hagrid’s hut from the top of the hill and for a minute he considered visiting him, but there was no way in hell that would end well, after all, what was he going to say to him? “Hi, Hagrid, I’m sorry my best friend and his malevolent father are doing everything in their power to kick you out”? Not very heartwarming.

So Harry just sat there at the top of the hill, doing his best to calm down. He watched the sky turn from blue to orange, he didn’t have much time left out in the castle grounds, he remembered Mr. Weasley’s words in his head and Harry had no intention of putting himself in danger. After the sun had set he would return to the castle, he convinced himself.

“Harry, what are you doing here?” Cedric Diggory stood in front of him in his _quidditch_ robes. “I thought you were visiting Malfoy at the Infirmary.”

“I was.” Harry replied. “Until I wasn’t.”

“Harry, is everything alright?” Cedric sat beside him on the grass.

“Do you remember when I told you Draco was difficult?” Harry sighed.

“Yes.”

“Well, it’s not just him, his father is difficult as well.” Harry inhaled sharply. “And right now they’re both getting on my nerves.”

“Harry, what happened?” Cedric was starting to sound really worried.

“It’s a long story.” Harry shrugged it off. “And I’m sure I’m keeping you from getting to your dorm room anyway.”

“I’m not going anywhere until I’m certain you’re alright, Harry.”

Harry stared into Cedric’s eyes, they were the same colour as Draco’s, however, looking directly into Cedric’s felt different than looking into Draco’s. Harry was beginning to understand why Blaise had called Cedric “puppy eyes” earlier.

“You can trust me.” Cedric placed his hand on top of Harry’s, it felt warm and comforting.

Harry took a deep breath and told Cedric about what Draco had told Crabbe and Goyle earlier, he also told him about what went down when he confronted Draco about it. Harry didn’t realize when, but as he talked he could feel a lump forming in his throat, and soon after, tears started rolling down his face, Harry was sad and worried for Hagrid and _Buckbeak_ , yes, but those weren’t tears of sadness, those were tears of anger, Harry had never felt this disappointed or this angry. He was angry at Draco and he was angry at Lucius Malfoy.

“He had no right speaking to Hagrid that way!” Harry continued, Cedric could barely understand what he was saying. “And what was he expecting? _Buckbeak_ is an animal! Of course he wouldn’t have a reasonable, human reaction to that!

Cedric embraced Harry in his arms, he could listen to Harry sobbing in his shoulder and he knew those weren’t sad tears, he knew Harry was angry and he had to let it out some way that didn’t involve breaking Draco Malfoy’s nose, even though Draco deserved it.

“I’m sorry, this is so embarrassing. I’m a mess.” Harry mumbled in Cedric’s shoulder.

“I should be the one apologizing, I’m all sweaty.” Cedric joked.

“Yeah, you smell.” Harry smiled as he hugged the Hufflepuff tighter.

“All jokes aside, Harry.” Cedric said in a more serious tone. “I hope you know you can always talk to me. About anything.”

“Thank you, Ced.” Harry said wholeheartedly.

“Now let’s go get you something to eat before you go to bed.”

The two boys got up and started walking side by side to the castle as the sun went down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought this would be a good oportunity to address Harry and Cedric's age gap, it's not like something is happening anytime soon but I figured I would get it out of the way.  
> Please, let me know what you thought of this chapter!


	8. Daisy roots.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Draco hates being on bad terms with his best friend, and he'll use the dumbest of excuses to fix that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this chapter is shorter, I had to introduce some characters and get some things out of the way before getting to the good stuff.  
> I hope you enjoy reading.

**Chapter 8:**

**Daisy roots.**

Marcus Flint had woken up the whole Slytherin _quidditch_ team early in the morning that weekend, he was furious at Harry for not telling him Hufflepuff was already practicing for their match, but the truth was, when Harry and Cedric met that day, _quidditch_ was the last thing Harry was focusing on.

The _quidditch_ field was freezing as they flew around, Harry’s hands were so stiff he could barely grab his broom the proper way, and when they finished training, Harry walked back to the castle cursing Flint’s name with every step he took.

As for Draco, well, he had gotten out of the Infirmary on Saturday after lunch, they haven’t spoken a word and they both felt terrible about it, Harry was still furious to Draco about his and his father’s actions and Draco wasn’t exactly happy at Harry either, but they both missed their best friend.

Harry had spent most of his weekend sitting with Cedric by the lake, when the Hufflepuff said he wanted to see more of him he wasn’t joking, and Harry quite enjoyed Cedric’s company.

Cedric loved to talk about his family, he was an only child so it had always been only his parents, Celine and Amos, and him. He idolized his parents, they were both sorted in Hufflepuff back in their school years. Amos excelled in Care of Magical Creatures and Celine in Herbology, Cedric had inherited both their gifts, but the truth was Cedric was good at everything he did, whether he liked to admit it or not.

Harry was secretly jealous of Cedric’s childhood memories and magical upbringing, he envied Cedric’s family dynamic, he couldn’t help but ache for the family he could have had if it weren’t for Voldemort. As for Cedric, he was sad to hear the way Harry’s remaining family treated him, giving him his cousin’s hand-me-downs, starving him, everything, he was both saddened and outraged.

“Well, it’s never too late to make new memories, Harry.” Cedric had said as he squeezed his hand gently. “Good memories.”

The rest of the weekend flew by very fast for Harry’s taste. If only he could have that every day for the rest of his life, the long walks, having lunch by the lake, the playful conversations, all of it.

“Mr. Potter, are you done reminiscing about the weekend?” Severus Snape was standing in front of him.

“Yes, sir, I’m sorry.” Harry replied.

Snape hummed in response and continued his lesson on the dangers of an incorrectly prepared Shrinking Solution. Professor Snape was the Head of Slytherin House and Draco’s godfather, when Harry had first met him he thought he was scary, and in certain ways he still was, but Harry had grown to like him more and more over time. He was a strict man, and he could come off as rude sometimes to some students from other Houses, but to Slytherin students, he was always kind in the most subtle of ways, after all, he had a reputation to maintain.

“You’ll have 30 minutes to brew a Shrinking Solution.” Snape announced monotonously. “Remember the poisonous properties of this potion when incorrectly brewed. Do. Not. Attempt. To drink it.”

Harry started to gather the ingredients from the cupboard, he wasn’t the worst potion maker of all time but he could certainly use some of Hermione’s help, it was a shame Gryffindor didn’t share that class with them that year, it was Ravenclaw instead, and Harry didn’t exactly have a lot of Ravenclaw friends.

“Professor.” Malfoy called, a few desks away from Harry. “I can’t cut the daisy roots.”

Malfoy pointed at the cast on his arm the second Snape turned to him.

“Potter, go help Malfoy.” Snape ordered.

“But…” Harry tried to protest but Snape had already turned his back on him. “Yes, sir.”

Harry grabbed his things and moved to Malfoy’s desk, the blond had a mischievous smile on his face.

“Here.” Malfoy passed the ingredients. “I’m having trouble cutting the daisy roots.”

“Sure, anything else?” Harry grunted.

“Look, I just wanted to talk with you.” Draco admitted. “I don’t want us to fight, alright?”

“You should’ve thought about that before launching a case against Hagrid and _Buckbeak_ then.” Harry replied bitterly.

“We both know that was my father’s doing.”

Harry sighed in response.

“I’ll admit Hagrid’s not my favourite person, and yes, I don’t think he’s responsible enough to be a professor…”

“Are you getting to the point anytime soon?” Harry cut in.

“But he’s your friend.” Draco continued. “I don’t necessarily have to like him, or his beast, for that matter, but I wouldn’t do anything to risk his position here at Hogwarts.”

“What about Crabbe and Goyle?” Harry inquired.

“What about them?”

“The way you were bragging to them.” Harry said. “You weren’t yourself.”

“I wasn’t exactly happy when I said those things, Potter.” Draco said. “In the time we’ve been friends you’ve made me realize I was wrong about so many things; Weasley, Granger, I could be wrong about Hagrid, too.”

“Look, Hagrid’s not exactly responsible.” Harry gave in. “He can be very oblivious, but must he and _Buckbeak_ pay such a high price for an accident?”

“I’ll talk to my father.” Draco sighed. “I can’t promise it’ll make a difference, but you have to believe me, it was his doing, not mine.”

“I believe you.” Harry let slip a short smile. “I just hope it’s not too late for Hagrid and _Buckbeak_.”

“Me too.” Draco lamented. “So, are we good?”

“We’re good.” Harry nodded. “Here, you can cut your own daisy roots now.”

“Potter, Malfoy, are you two done catching up?” Snape raised an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry, professor, it was my fault.” Draco replied, Snape grunted in response.

After they finished brewing their Shrinking Solution, something in Snape’s disappointed gaze told them that the only thing that potion would be shrinking would be a person’s health if drank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I'm not sure if Mrs. Diggory had a name in the books so I named her Celine, I thought it would be cool if she shared initials with her son.


	9. The boggart.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Professor Lupin's class takes an interesting turn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After making my best effort to edit this chapter I realized I used the word "boggart" way too many times, I'm sorry. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Chapter 9:**

**The boggart.**

Like everyone else, Harry was intrigued by the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Given his predecessors, professor Lupin had already exceeded his expectations with the stunt he had pulled with the dementors on the train.

As Divination, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was located in the North Tower. For the first time in two years, and after the disappointment his previous Defense Against the Dark Arts professors turned out to be, Harry was excitedly climbing the stairwell leading to the classroom, his steps were high paced and when he reached the door that lead to the classroom he turned his head only to discover his friends were very behind.

When his friends caught up with him, Harry turned the doorknob and they got in, the classroom was pretty much the same as the last two years: an iron chandelier and a dragon’s skeleton hung from the ceiling, the only difference was the huge wardrobe towering down the back of the room and the tired-looking man standing beside it.

The professor presented itself to those who didn’t know him, which was in fact, the majority of the class, after that, he asked them to help him move the desks next to the walls so they could free up space, and finally, he asked them to leave their books there as well, they would only be needing their wands that day.

“Does anyone here knows what a _boggart_ is?” Professor Lupin asked as he walked around the room.

“A _boggart_ is a shape-shifting non-being that presents itself in the form of the observer’s worst fear.” Hermione answered, appearing out of nowhere.

“That’s right, miss…?”

“Granger, sir.”

“Granger! Right. Five points for Gryffindor.” Lupin granted. “What miss Granger didn’t mention is _where_ a _boggart_ usually lives.”

The class stood there silently waiting for an answer while Hermione sighed in disappointment.

“Here.” Lupin pointed at the wardrobe with the tip of his wand. “ _Boggarts_ are fond of dark, confined spaces. They tend to adopt wardrobes, cupboards, and dark corners as their home.”

“Is he saying there’s a _boggart_ in there?” Draco whispered.

“I think so.” Harry replied.

“Laughter is key when it comes to defeating a _boggart_.” Lupin said. “When cast, the _Riddikulus_ charm forces the _boggart_ to assume a less threatening and, hopefully, comic form. That’s what we’ll be practicing today.”

Professor Lupin taught them the incantation and then asked them to line up so they could face the _boggart_ one by one. The first one to face the _boggart_ , by professor Lupin’s request, was Neville Longbottom, when Neville stood in front of the wardrobe, it was professor Snape that came out of it, and Neville, with a trembling voice and shaky hands, pointed his wand at him and cried “ _Riddikulus!_ ” and suddenly, Snape’s black clothes were replaced by an old fashioned attire, which the class suspected was his grandma’s.

The class faced the _boggart_ one by one, it took the form of a spider when Ron was up against him, but after he cast the spell the spider lost its legs, and when it was Dean Thomas’ turn, the _boggart_ turned into a disembodied living hand, which he trapped in a mousetrap after he conjured the _Riddikulus_ charm.

Soon, it was Draco Malfoy’s turn, Harry could tell he wasn’t exactly enjoying the class when he hesitated to step forward and face the _boggart_. It took the _boggart_ a while to shift from its previous form to a new one, but it sure did, and after a few seconds the disembodied living hand took the form of Lucius Malfoy. Draco’s legs were shaking at the sight of his father, the _boggart_ started to slowly walk towards him when it suddenly stopped and it changed its form again: now, laying on the floor, in front of Draco, was Harry’s corpse, pale and cold, his clothes were dirty and his hair was messier than usual, there was a basilisk’s fang buried in one his arms. Harry tried to step up for his friend, but before he could do something to help him face the _boggart_ , Draco took a deep breath and said the incantation, _boggart_ -Harry rose up from the dead and started doing ballet pirouettes. Draco walked to the back of the classroom with his head low and sat behind a desk, hidden from his classmates' eyes, Harry couldn’t go after him since it was now his turn to face the _boggart_.

As Harry walked up to it, the _boggart_ ’s pirouettes slowed down, _boggart_ -Harry looked right into his eyes before changing its form, everyone was anxious about Harry’s _boggart_ , especially professor Lupin, who had his wand out and was ready to act if anything went wrong. The _boggart_ decided to turn into a dementor. It flew towards Harry as if it were to attack him, it startled him, he knew it wasn’t the real thing but it was equally unsettling, and Harry fell to the ground. He pointed at the creature with his wand but he could only stammer the incantation, that, of course, didn’t work. That’s when Lupin decided to intervene, he stepped between the _boggart_ and Harry, and the _boggart_ changed its form again, the dementor turned into the night sky: a bright, big full moon shining above the clouds.

“ _Riddikulus!_ ” Lupin yelled turning the moon into smoke. “I think that will be enough for today’s class.”

The people that didn’t get to face the dementor whined about it but Harry felt relieved, he got himself up and ran towards Draco, who was sitting on a desk in the back of the classroom.

“Are you alright?” They asked eachother at the same time.

Harry chuckled at the coincidence but proceeded to hold Draco’s hand, both their expressions were hard to read, as if they wanted to say something to each other but didn’t know where to start.

“That was very intense, are you alright?” Harry finally said. “You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, but I want you to know that I’ll always be here for you. You can trust me.”

“You saw your dead body lying on the floor and you’re asking me if I’m alright?” Draco scoffed.

“You heard Hermione earlier, a _boggart_ takes the form of the observer’s worst fear.” Harry reminded him. “And it wasn’t the only form it took, so yes, I’m asking you if you’re alright.”

Draco intertwined his and Harry’s fingers together as a gesture of comfort before he replied.

“It was hell waiting for you to come back from the Chamber of Secrets.” Draco sighed. “With Ron and Lockhart unconscious, I just felt so useless. It was hell not knowing when you were coming back, _if_ you were even coming back. I know it’s nothing compared to what you and Ginny went through down there, but still…”

“But I’m alright.” Harry smiled at him. “And most importantly, we’re alright.”

“And I’m glad, but I don’t want to feel that way again.” Draco murmured in defeat. “And when I found out about the basilisk’s fang… Harry, you could’ve died, if it weren’t for Dumbledore’s bird, I would’ve lost you.”

“You’re never getting rid of me, you know that, right?” Harry hugged him. “This friendship… From the moment you shook my hand, you signed a life sentence.”

“I sure hope I did.” Draco hugged him tighter.

“And… do you want to talk about your father?” Harry asked carefully as they untangled.

“Not really.” Draco replied uncomfortably. “Lucius Malfoy is a man of many faces, most of them are very scary, that’s about it.”

“Alright.” Harry chuckled.

“Should we address the dementor?” Draco asked.

“Only if we address it over breakfast.” Harry replied playfully.

The classroom was almost deserted, most of their classmates had already left when Lupin dismissed them earlier after the _boggart_ stunt. Pansy, Hermione, and Theo were helping Lupin move the desks back to their place and Ron and Blaise were having a little chat by the door.

“Fine.” Draco agreed with a smile. “But let’s give them a hand first.”

Draco and Harry joined the desk rearranging committee but most of the work was already done. Professor Lupin thanked them all for their help and proceeded to escort them to the door, he wished them a good day and the group hurried to the Great Hall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured it was time for Harry and Draco's friendship to shine a little bit, let me know what you thought about this chapter.  
> By the way, I had an inspiration rush, so I may upload the next chapter sooner than expected if everything goes well.  
> Thank you so much for reading!


	10. The big box in the green wrapping paper.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry's friends go to Hogsmeade, and he gets invited to a surprise party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I wanted to write a long chapter in celebration of this being the tenth chapter but I guess it got a little out of hand, so, try not to fall asleep as you read this.

**Chapter 10:**

**The big box in the green wrapping paper.**

As the weeks went by, professor Lupin’s classes were the only thing both students and professors talked about, much to Severus Snape’s disgust. Hermione, Draco, and Blaise were happy to finally have a competent professor teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts, while Ron, Pansy, and Theo were just talking about how cool professor Lupin was, as for Harry, he could only think about why professor Lupin’s worst fear was the moon.

“Alright, we’re here.” Harry announced as he and his friends arrived at the Clock Tower’s courtyard.

“I wish you could come to Hogsmeade with us.” Blaise lamented.

“Me too, but I couldn’t get Uncle Vernon to sign my paper.” Harry replied disappointed.

“And no one else could do it instead of him?” Ron asked.

“Well, I tried to get professor Snape to sign it, given that he is Head of Slytherin and basically responsible for every Slytherin student here but- “

“You did what?!” Ron yelled.

“Shut up, Weasley, professor Snape’s not as bad as you think.” Draco cut in.

“As I was saying.” Harry glared at an embarrassed Ron. “Snape told me he couldn’t sign it because he wasn’t my legal guardian.”

“I’m sorry, Harry.” Pansy replied in disappointment.

“We’ll get you something.” Hermione added.

“Oh, don’t bother.” Harry shrugged it off. “Just be sure to enjoy your day.”

His friends started to walk away from him. Professor McGonagall, who was supposed to guide them to Hogsmeade, was standing in the middle of the courtyard, waiting for the students who had their papers signed to get there.

“Draco, wait.” Harry grabbed his friend’s hand before he left.

“What's wrong?”

“I need you to buy something for me.” Harry said as he put a heavy little bag of galleons in the blond’s hand.

“Oh, alright, I guess.” Draco said in confussion. “What do you want me to buy?”

“Cedric’s birthday present.” Harry replied swiftly.

“You’ve got to be joking.” Draco glared at him.

“Draco, please.” Harry begged. “I can’t get him anything decent trapped in the castle.”

“What should I get him?” The blond asked as if every word in that sentence disgusted him.

“I’m not entirely sure, something nice _quidditch_ or herbology related.” Harry replied.

“Alright.” Draco grunted.

“Thank you so much, you’re the best!” Harry thanked him embracing him in a quick hug.

“I know I am.” Draco replied as he walked away.

Once McGonagall and the group were out of sight, Harry found himself in need of doing something to pass the time and he thought of visiting Hagrid, they hadn’t really talked after the whole Malfoy incident.

As Harry crossed the wooden bridge, he bumped into professor Lupin, the man appeared to be out for a walk and he looked very unwell. After much struggle, Harry found a way to politely question him on whether he was feeling alright but Lupin dismissed him saying he was just tired. Harry got on with it and made his way to Hagrid’s hut.

 _Buckbeak_ was lying on the grass next to some pumpkins, the animal nodded at Harry as he walked past him, Harry nodded back at him and he felt relieved to see _Buckbeak_ was tied to a wooden post. Harry walked up to Hagrid’s door and he knocked three times, he heard Hagrid make his way to the door from inside the house.

“Harry! I can’t tell you how glad I’m to see you!” Hagrid embraced him in a quick hug that almost crushed him. “Come on in!”

Harry stepped into Hagrid’s house and followed him to the table, they both sat in the chairs surrounding it.

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Hagrid asked smiling.

“Well, I had some time in my hands and I figured it was time for me to apologize.”

“Apologize for what?” Hagrid asked with a frown.

“The whole _Buckbeak_ affair.” Harry replied in embarrassment. “You got in so much trouble for it and I just disappeared! And Draco… He’ll apologize too, I’ll make him!”

“You don’t have to apologize for anything, Harry. I, of course, had planned the class to go another way, but _Buckbeak_ over there had other plans.” Hagrid chuckled. “And as for Mr. Malfoy, there’s no need for you to make him come here, he came to see me as soon as he got out of the Infirmary and apologized for his and his father’s actions. I forgave him, of course, he looked miserable.”

“I’m sorry, Draco did what?” Harry asked in disbelief.

“He came to see me! He apologized and all!” Hagrid repeated.

“I mean, yes, but what did he say?” Harry worried.

“Well, he just said he was sorry for berating me in front of the whole class, that he should have found a moment to tell me about his concerns in private.”

“And?!”

“He apologized for his reaction to _Buckbeak_ ’s attack as well, but I dismissed him.” Hagrid said. “There’s no proper way to react when a hippogriff attacks you, even if he overreacted a little bit.”

“That he did.” Harry laughed.

“And finally he apologized for his father’s fuss.” Hagrid said calmly. “He said that he had talked to his father and he dropped all his accusations against _Buckbeak_ and I.”

“That's great! And then what happened?”

“We had some tea, of course.” Hagrid replied. “But I apologized to him as well, I said that I was sorry that he got hurt, and I promised to be more careful on the way I handle my classes.”

“Well… that’s marvelous! And unexpected, but marvelous overall!” Harry said in excitement.

“Why are you not in Hogsmeade, anyway?” Hagrid asked as he got up to make some tea.

Harry explained to him the whole unsigned-paper thing and Hagrid grunted at the mention of his uncle. They had some tea and Hagrid offered a piece of cake that he had made yesterday, the cake was good but it almost broke all of Harry’s teeth as he took the first bite.

After they finished eating, Hagrid walked Harry to the door, he claimed he needed to take some time to reevaluate some of his classes and Harry left him to it.

As Harry made his way back to the castle he heard a girl calling his name from the distance, he turned around and discovered it was Susan Bones, Harry stopped walking and smiled from afar, he liked Susan, she was one of the few Hufflepuffs that didn’t treat him differently after the Justin incident, she was overall a very sweet girl.

“Harry, I’m so glad to see you!” Susan sighed as she reached him. “How are you doing?”

“I’m doing alright, Susan, thank you!” Harry smiled at her. “How are _you_ doing? Why are you not in Hogsmeade with the others?”

“Well, I’ve been trying to get to you all week!” Susan replied. “You’re very hard to find, do you know that?”

“Oh, I’m sorry! What can I help you with? Is everything alright?” Harry was getting a little bit worried now.

“Everything is alright, don’t worry!” Susan pat the boy’s back. “It’s just that since you and Cedric are friends it’s only fitting for me to tell you this.”

“Oh, how do you know we’re friends?”

“Are you kidding? You’re all he talks about in the common room! ‘Harry this, Harry that’, it’s cute, really.” The Hufflepuff girl laughed and Harry blushed. “Also, not many people from other Houses would casually sit on the Slytherin table at lunch with all the dumb stigma surrounding your House.”

“That’s true, Cedric truly is one of a kind.” Harry sighed. “But what did you mean to tell me?”

“Right, right. Well as you know, Cedric’s birthday, October 13th, is next week.” Susan said. “And we’re throwing him a surprise party in our common room, you should come!”

“Thank you for the invitation, I would be delighted to go, but I don’t know how to get to the Hufflepuff common room.” Harry bit his lip.

“Oh! Just be sure to be at the kitchens before noon and I’ll guide you from there.”

“Thank you, see you there then!” Harry smiled. “I’m sorry you didn’t go to Hogsmeade.”

“I’m not! It was nice seeing you, Harry!” Susan said as Harry turned around and walked away.

After wandering around the castle for a little while, Harry decided that he would wait for his friends to get back from Hogsmeade in the common room, he had to get some of his homework done anyway.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, he was in his head thinking about how kind Susan Bones was to him when he heard a group of people entering the common room.

“Why did you pay for Weasley’s candies anyway?” Harry had heard Draco ask.

“Well, I saw him eye so many of them and I thought he could spend that money on something more important.” Blaise replied calmly.

“Is that so, oh, benevolent Blaise?” Pansy teased.

“And what about your money, Blaise, was it spent on something _important_?” Theo added to Pansy’s teasing.

“If you must know, yes, it was.” Blaise blushed. “Harry! How long have you been there?”

“Hey! Well, I had a lot of free time in my hands so I decided to catch up on some homework.” Harry shrugged it off.

“Our responsable boy.” Pansy hugged him from behind.

“You should try it sometime, you know?” Harry replied. “You were lucky Dumbledore canceled our finals last year.”

“You sound like Hermione.” Pansy kissed him on the cheek before letting go of him.

“Well, Hermione tends to be right.” Blaise replied and everyone nodded in agreement.

Everyone had left to leave their Hogsmeade shopping in their dorms, everyone except for Draco, who had two gigantic bags, one in each hand.

“First things first.” Draco handed him the bag on his right hand. “For you.”

“You shouldn’t have…” Harry said as he opened the bag. “Merlin’s beard! What’s all this?”

The bag was full of candies, stationery, writing supplies, and some mysterious products wrapped in _Zonko’s Joke Shop_ wrapping paper.

“I bought you some stuff from every store we visited.” Draco said.

“ _Some stuff_?” Harry laughed. “You must have left their shelves empty!”

“I may or may not have done that.” Draco smiled.

“Thank you so much, either way.” Harry hugged him. “It was very sweet of you.”

“I’m always sweet.” Draco replied and Harry scoffed.

When they separated from their hug, Draco handed him the bag on his left hand.

“And second… Diggory’s birthday present.” Draco said. “You can open it, I bought some wrapping paper for later.”

Harry opened the bag, it was even heavier than the first one, it contained a sea of candy, wrapping paper, and a giant disassembled cardboard box and two books: _Quidditch Through the Ages_ by _Kennilworthy Whisp_ and _Magical Water Plants of the Highland Lochs_ by _Hadrian Whittle_.

“Wow, you’ve outdone yourself.” Harry sighed. “I’m pretty sure he has read _Quidditch Through the Ages_ , though.”

“We all have, and with those grades he probably has read _Magical Water Plants of the Highland Lochs_ as well.” Draco replied. “But they’re first editions so he better be grateful.”

“First editions?! How?!”

“You literally gave me free reign over a bag of galleons to get Diggory’s birthday present.” Draco said very slowly. “I’m not entirely sure you have a tangible concept of how money works here.”

“I was probably still thinking about brooms when Hagrid explained that to me.” Harry replied. “Speaking of Hagrid, he told me you went to see him.”

“That blabber.” Draco grunted. “Yes, I did.”

“Aww, aren’t you cute?” Harry teased.

“Shut up.”

The week went by, and when Wednesday the 13 arrived, Harry couldn’t handle the excitement, as soon as his Herbology class was over, Harry ran to the Great Hall to have a light lunch, he didn’t look up to the Hufflepuff’s table, because he was afraid he might spoil the surprise if Cedric looked back at him.

As he finished his lunch, he left the Great Hall in a hurry, only to discover he didn’t actually know where the kitchens were. His arms were starting to hurt from carrying around the gigantic gift box wrapped in green wrapping paper but he didn’t know where to go.

“Lost, Harry?” Two familiar voices said behind him.

Harry turned around and he found Fred and George Weasley, tall as ever.

“Actually, yes.” Harry admitted. “I need to go meet someone in the kitchens but I don’t where to go.”

“Is this about a certain Hufflepuff?” Fred teased.

“Yes, it is.” Harry replied. “Can you help me?”

“I don’t know, can we, George?”

“I think we can, Fred.” George said as he reached his pocket and got out a blank piece of parchment. “ _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_.”

George tapped the piece of parchment with the tip of his wand and suddenly writing started appearing on it:

_Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_

_Purveyors of Aid to Magical Mischief-Makers_

_are proud to present_

_THE MARAUDER’S MAP._

“What’s this?” Harry asked as George unfolded it, revealing it to be much larger.

“This beauty, Harry, has taught us more than all the teachers in this school.” Fred replied.

“It knows every inch of this castle…”

“And the people in it!”

“We would love to scort you to your little date in the kitchens, we truly do.” George said.

“But wouldn’t it be interesting for you to find your own way there with the help of this gem?” Fred finished.

“Wait, but won’t you need it back?” Harry asked.

“How sweet of you!”

“We’ve already memorized it!” The twins replied as they walked away. “Put it to good use, and remember, _Mischief Managed!”_

Harry could see everyone in that map, he could see Ron and Hermione eating in the Great Hall, Dumbledore walking in circles in his office, professor Lupin taking a walk near the Whomping Willow and… Susan Bones waiting in the kitchens, not too far from there.

Harry followed the map’s instructions, he walked to the Grand Staircase and descended to the very bottom, the closer he got the better it smelled. As he reached the bottom floor, he walked down another staircase and reached a large hallway, it was brightly illuminated and there were a lot of food-related paintings, Susan Bones was patiently waiting next to a painting of a bowl of fruit.

Harry stared at the map, he didn’t know how to make it blank again.

“ _Mischief Managed?_ ” Harry whispered in doubt as he touched the map with the tip of his wand.

The map folded itself and turned into a regular piece of blank parchment, Harry hid it in his pocket as he walked up to Susan.

“Harry, nice to see you.” Susan said as Harry approached her. “Were you lost?”

“Just for a moment.” Harry replied. “Have you been waiting long? Are we still in time?”

“Don’t worry, we are. What a huge box, by the way, I’m sure Cedric will love whatever is in it!” Susan screeched in excitement.

“I sure hope he does.” Harry giggled. “Where are we going next?”

“Oh, right, from this moment on until I say so, I’m going to ask you to close your eyes, alright?”

“Alright."

"Take my hand.”

Harry followed Susan’s orders and he started to walk behind her, holding her hand as she guided the way, they didn’t take many steps and they eventually stopped, Harry could hear her tapping repeatedly on what sounded like a wooden surface, they proceeded to take a few more steps and then they stopped again.

“You can open your eyes now.”

Harry fell in love with Hufflepuff’s common room the second he saw it, the room was wide and round, there were many yellow sofas and wooden tables in warm colours around the place, it had a low ceiling and a portrait or Helga Hufflepuff above the fireplace, sunlight filtered through the little rounded windows near to the ceiling. There was an army of people hiding behind the furniture and a huge cake with fifteen candles was lying on top of the biggest table in the common room. Harry and Susan joined the others and hid as well.

“I’m sure I have it among my stuff.” Harry had heard Cedric come in. “I’m sorry I forgot to give it back.”

“Oh, don’t worry.” His classmate replied with an eager voice.

“Where is everyone?”

“SURPRISE!” Everyone jumped from their hiding spots as they yelled at the top of their lungs.

Harry could see Cedric smiling and he was sure he saw his eyes get a little teary, soon all of Cedric’s friends wrapped him in a massive group hug, Harry thought of joining them, but he felt a little out of place.

As the hug dissolved, one of Cedric’s older friends lit the candles with a wand movement and they all started to sing Happy Birthday to him, Cedric blew the candles and everyone clapped.

One by one, they started to put the presents on one of the tables as Cedric made his best effort to cut the cake. Harry stared at him as he put his present next to the others, Cedric looked up and winked at him, Harry was sure he had forgotten how to breathe for a moment.

Then, Cedric was greeting all of the people in the common room one by one as Harry sat on the floor with Susan and ate some cake.

“Is it good?” Cedric whispered in Harry’s ear.

“Very, one of the best I ever had.” Harry said as he stood up. “Happy birthday, Cedric.”

Harry hugged him tight, and Cedric rested his chin above Harry’s head, he always felt small in the Hufflepuff’s presence.

“Thank you for coming, you plotter.” Cedric laughed. “I have to greet some other people, but can we talk later?”

“Of course, enjoy your party.”

“I’m very excited about your present.” Cedric smiled as he started to walk away.

“Open it in private for Merlin’s beard!” Harry begged in the distance.

Susan Bones raised a playful eyebrow at him as he sat down to finish his cake, Harry ate in silence, trying his best not to blush.

When Cedric finished with all of his duties as birthday boy, he had a piece of cake as well and after that, he started opening some of the presents much to the guests delight. Ernie Macmillan had gotten him a Broomcare Kit similar to the one Hermione had gotten Harry in his birthday. There was a round of applause after every present Cedric opened and he opened most of them but everyone was waiting for him to open the big box in the green wrapping paper, but to everyone's disappointment, he didn’t.

Someone put some music on and they danced for the rest of the evening, Harry sat on a sofa hidden away at the border of the room, dancing frightened him. Everyone danced until they got tired and Harry watched the sky changing tones from the little windows, it was getting darker and he needed to head back to his own common room, so he got up and started walking to the exit, very careful of not being seen.

“Leaving without saying goodbye to the birthday boy?” Harry obviously had not been careful enough. “Kind of rude, don’t you think?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for you to notice.” Harry replied instantly regretting it.

“I always notice you, Potter.” Cedric walked up to him. “Let me take you to your common room.”

“What? No, you can’t leave your party!”

“I may be the birthday boy, but I am also a prefect, it’s getting late and I don’t want you to get in trouble.” Cedric said. “I am taking you to your common room and I won’t take no for an answer.”

Harry sighed in defeat and Cedric ran back to get Harry’s box, he planned to open it on the way to the Slytherin Common Room. Everyone was lying on either the sofas or the floor, tired from all the dancing, so they didn’t notice when Harry and Cedric sneaked out.

They were silent for most of the way, it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, it was quite the opposite: they were so comfortable with each other they didn’t feel the need to make unnecessary chatter.

As they reached the dungeons, Cedric took Harry’s hand and Harry chuckled, he was sure Cedric didn’t know where to go from there so Harry lead them for the rest of the way, but he didn’t complain, Cedric’s hand was bigger than his, it was warm and soft, and Harry liked holding it.

They stopped in front of an old and humid cobblestone wall, Cedric looked at his friend with a frown.

“Is this it?”

“Yes, we’re here.”

“I better open my present then.” He said as he ripped the green wrapping paper. “Merlin’s beard!”

Cedric was speechless, his hand navigated the sea of candy lying inside of the box and he eventually found the two books.

“FIRST EDITIONS?!” Cedric screeched in excitement.

“Shhhh!”

“Sorry, sorry. First editions?” Cedric asked, quieter this time.

Harry nodded in response.

“Harry Potter, this is the greatest gift ever!” Cedric hugged him. “Thank you so, so much!”

“You’re welcome, Ced.” Cedric’s happiness made him happy.

They stared awkwardly into each other’s eyes for a couple of seconds, Cedric’s face got closer to his, and Harry’s heart started to pound faster and harder inside his chest.

"Can I ask you something?" The Hufflepuff asked.

"Sure, birthday boy."

"Why weren't you dancing?"

"I'm not very good at it." Harry replied. "Besides, I had no one to dance with."

"And you didn't think of dancing with me? On my birthday?"

"I didn't want to get in the way between you and your friends."

"You seriously need to stop thinking you're a bother, you know?" Cedric sighed. "You're not, not to me, not to anyone."

Harry stayed silent.

"And you owe me a dance." Cedric added.

"Maybe next time, I promise." Harry smiled.

Cedric got closer and Harry couldn’t read the expression on his face, he wasn’t sure of his intentions either, although he suspected them, so Harry, panicking, took matters into his own hands and kissed Cedric on the cheek.

“Happy birthday, Cedric.” Harry whispered, still panicking.

“Thank you, Harry.” Cedric replied. “And thank you for _all_ of the presents.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Harry waited until the Hufflepuff boy was long gone to whisper the password, and as he got into the common room he noticed only one of the lights was on.

“How was it?” Draco asked sitting on a sofa.

“It was good.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you made it here without falling asleep please tell me what you thought of this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it!


	11. The match, at last.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dementors' intervention at the quidditch match between Slytherin and Hufflepuff unlocks one of Harry's darkest memories on a previous Halloween.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it took me so long to update, I felt a little drained after last chapter, but I'm back!

**Chapter 11:**

**The match, at last.**

That entire week had been hell for Harry. Marcus Flint had woken them up at five in the morning every day of the week because he was paranoid about their match against Hufflepuff that weekend.

“Is this really necessary?” Harry yawned as he and the rest of the team dragged their feet through the floor on their way to the quidditch pitch.

“It is.” Marcus replied. “You don’t know the things I’ve heard about Diggory’s abilities as a seeker.”

“Are you doubting mine?” Harry inquired, Marcus had hurt his pride.

“I wouldn’t dare.” Marcus said. “But a little practice won’t hurt.”

“So you say.” Cassius Warrington grunted.

But Marcus Flint’s early morning _quidditch_ training wasn’t the only thing that had been bothering Harry that week, it was, in fact, only one of the many: earlier in the week, Professor McGonagall took fifty points from Slytherin after breaking a fight between Crabbe and Goyle in the middle of Transfigurations class, apparently, Crabbe had stolen one of Goyle’s muffins over breakfast and Goyle wasn’t very happy about it. Later in the week, Professor Trelawney had eerily told Harry in front of the whole class to make sure his broom had not been cursed before the _quidditch_ match on Saturday and that she could “see The Grim’s shadow cast over him.”

“She was right about my bunny, you know?” Lavender Brown whispered to Parvati.

Hermione rolled her eyes at Lavender’s comment, but the truth was professor Trelawney was right about Neville’s grandmother as well, she had sent an owl to her grandson detailing her flight down the stairs. Neville’s grandmother was currently being kept at St. Mungo’s for observation and had told Neville not to worry, but it was pointless, Neville cried with nervousness as he read the letter and Hermione had to comfort him.

“Your grandma has always been pretty honest with you, Nev.” Hermione told the boy as he sobbed on her shoulder. “She told you she has been feeling well, and we have no reason to not believe her.”

As they reached the end of the week, Harry became more and more anxious for their next Defense Against the Dark Arts class but when the time for it finally arrived there was no sign of professor Lupin in the classroom, instead of him, there was professor Snape.

“Sit down and open your books on page 394.” Snape greeted coldly as the students took their seats.

“What is he doing here?” Harry had heard Ron ask Blaise in what Ron thought was a whisper.

“I don’t know.” Blaise replied in an actual whisper.

“Well, ask him!”

“You ask him!”

“Mr. Weasley, I assume your page is already open on page 394, if it’s not I would urge you to do so.” Snape sneered.

“Ask him!” Ron told Blaise as he turned the pages on his book.

“Professor, where is Professor Lupin?” Hermione asked appearing out of nowhere.

“I believe that is none of your business, Miss Granger.” Snape replied in his usual monotonous tone. “Page 394.”

As Harry turned the pages on his book, not wanting to get on Snape’s bad side, he realized Snape was getting ahead of himself, they weren’t quite there yet.

“Werewolves? We’re far from there.” Ron asked loudly. “I wonder where Lupin is.

“I see this will continue to be a constant interruption unless addressed.” Snape let out a dramatic sigh. “Professor Lupin is unwell and it has befallen upon me the responsibility to take his place. Page 394.”

The rest of the class could be summarized as Hermione speaking out of turn and Snape taking points from Gryffindor in annoyance while managing to teach a surprisingly informative class on lycanthropy.

“I’m gonna ask you to turn in two parchments on how to identify werewolves for the next class.” Snape announced.

“But sir, there’s _quidditch_ tomorrow!” Harry protested.

“Then I suggest you start right away, Mr. Potter.” Snape glared at him. “Class dismissed.”

At dinner, Harry could hear Ron complaining to Hermione about the recently assigned Defense Against the Dark Arts homework. Professor Lupin was nowhere to be seen when Harry glanced at the Professors’ Table.

“Do you think my broom could have been cursed?” Harry asked out of nowhere.

“No.” Draco said bluntly. “And you shouldn’t let Trelawney get in your head, tomorrow’s a big day.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“I usually am.”

After they were done with dinner, the group got up and started walking toward the exit, when Harry heard a voice calling his name a few steps away.

“Harry!” Cedric tapped him on the shoulder. “How are you? It’s been a few days, I haven’t seen you since my birthday.”

“I know, it’s just this week hasn’t exactly been great.” Harry replied. “How are you?”

“I’m alright, very excited about tomorrow’s match.” Cedric smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle.”

“A little cocky, don’t you think?” Harry teased.

“I was just joking.”

“I know, don’t worry.”

“So, Harry, about the other night…”

Draco had stopped paying attention to his friends’ conversation to focus on Cedric and Harry’s instead.

“What about it?” Harry asked nervously.

“Well, I just wanted to thank you again.” Cedric replied. “And tell you that I had a really good time.”

“I also had a great time.” Harry blushed.

“Great, I was worried I had made you uncomfortable.”

“Oh no, don’t worry.”

“Great.”

“Great.”

They looked at each other awkwardly unaware of Draco eavesdropping.

“Anyway, have a good night and see you tomorrow.” Cedric said. “May the best man win.”

“Goodnight, Ced.”

Cedric left in a hurry to catch up with his Hufflepuff friends and Harry and his friends resumed their march to their common room. They all thanked the heavens when they arrived because they were all exhausted. Pansy fell asleep on one of the couches and the boys left to their dorm.

Harry was taking off his glasses when he noticed Draco staring at him from his bed, just next to his.

“Is everything alright?” Harry asked after leaving his wand and glasses on the night table.

“What happened the other night?”

“The other night?”

“Yeah, between you and Diggory.” Draco said.

“Were you eavesdropping?”

“I may or may not have heard part of your conversation, yes.” The blonde replied and Harry rolled his eyes at him.

“Well, it was nothing important.”

“So unimportant he feared he had made you uncomfortable?” Draco questioned him.

“It was nothing, really.” Harry replied.

“Guys, can you please have your daily Cedric Diggory discussion tomorrow morning?” Nott begged from under his bedsheets. “I’m exhausted and getting some sleep would be greatly appreciated.”

Draco grunted in response as he turned off the lights with a wand movement.

The next morning Harry had a light breakfast, the Great Hall had the Halloween decorations ready for that night. After having breakfast with his friends, he and the rest of the Slytherin _quidditch_ team walked to the _Quidditch_ Pitch, it was raining cats and dogs and Draco had offered to put a spell on his glasses so they could repel rain, Harry accepted his offer.

After they crossed the wooden bridge, Harry noticed a black dog staring at him in the distance, it looked similar to the one he had seen over the summer, after the aunt March incident, but it couldn’t possibly be the same. The dog continued to stare at him, not moving at all, that odd behavior reminded him of Professor McGonagall’s form as cat. The dog’s gaze was so penetrating that Harry felt shivers down his spine and he couldn’t help thinking about The Grim. He decided to continue walking, hoping there wasn’t a deeper meaning behind the dog’s behaviour.

After they arrived, Harry hopped on his broom and flew into the _Quidditch_ Pitch with the rest of the team. The Hufflepuff team was already there and, as they got in formation around Madame Hooch, Harry glanced at Cedric, who didn’t look back at him, probably getting on a competitive mindset, Harry thought.

Madame Hooch released all of the _quidditch_ balls from a chest on the ground and Harry took flight in search of the _snitch_ but even with Draco’s spell on his glasses he couldn’t see a thing. Cedric was on the other side of the pitch but he didn’t seem to know where the _snitch_ was either.

After dodging a few _bludgers_ , Harry saw a glimpse of the golden ball and flew towards it, he heard Cedric flying his way as soon as he noticed. It felt as if Harry was flying completely vertically upwards, his hands grew colder while holding his broom and Harry realized he had not heard Lee Jordan’s commentary in a while, Harry looked down for a second and Cedric wasn’t there, following him after the _snitch_ , in his place he found a bunch of dementors swiftly flying towards him.

It’s alright, I just need to catch the _snitch_ and get out of here, Harry thought, but when he looked up there was no sign of the ball. The dementors were getting closer and he started feeling dizzy, a woman’s voice echoed in his head.

_“Not Harry, please, not him.”_

_“Move, stupid girl.”_

_“Not him, please, kill me instead.”_

Harry heard the woman’s begging, it was his mother’s voice… and that cold voice that had replied, it must have been _his_.

_“Please, have mercy, please.”_

The woman’s begging was replaced by a chilling scream followed by Voldemort’s laugh.

The dementors were now in front of Harry, his sight had gotten blurry and as much as he meant to stay on the broom he just couldn’t find the strength to do so anymore and he let go.

A few meters down, Cedric Diggory had just caught the _snitch_ , he didn’t have time to wonder about Harry’s whereabout because in a matter of seconds he would get a glimpse of the boy free-falling into the ground, Cedric flew towards him but he couldn’t catch him, and, as the boy fell closer to the ground Albus Dumbledore intervened.

With a wand movement, Dumbledore slowed Harry’s fall, and as Harry’s body softly descended to the ground, Dumbledore proceeded to conjure with his wand a mist that went after the dementors, effectively scaring them off the _Quidditch_ Pitch.

Harry woke up at the Infirmary, it was lit only by some lamps, it was night already, but it mustn’t have been really late since he found Draco sleeping on a chair next to his bed, Draco fell asleep holding Harry’s hand. His whole body felt a little bruised but he managed to get up.

“Draco, Draco.” Harry called in a whisper as he let go of Draco’s hand. “Wake up.”

“Not yet, mum.” Draco groaned.

Harry giggled, he meant to call him again but he opted to leave him alone. He looks cute when he’s sleeping, Harry thought.

“Going somewhere?” Madame Pomfrey inquired as Harry walked out of the Infirmary.

“Oh… it’s just that…” Harry had failed in thinking about something to reply.

“It’s alright, Mr. Potter, you should go get some food, the feast has just started.” Madame Pomfrey said. “I was gonna wake you up for supper anyway in a few minutes.”

“Thank you, Madame Pomfrey.”

“But don’t take long, you should spend the night here just in case.”

He nodded at the woman and started to make his way to the Great Hall. Harry walked with his head down, the hallways were deserted. He had always found the castle to be a little scary at night, and to be honest, Harry was afraid to look up to the walls, he was scared of watching something written on them, like last year.

Harry convinced himself he wasn’t in danger, there was, of course, the threat of Sirius Black, he had heard a Ravenclaw say in Potions class the day before that he had been seen in a town not so far from Hogsmeade, but a fugitive didn’t sound as dangerous as a basilisk, and there was no way he could get into Hogwarts, not with the dementors anyway.

Harry was about to reach the Grand Staircase, but he stopped himself, it didn’t feel right, he couldn’t just ignore what happened on that night twelve years ago, having just heard his mother’s agonizing begging when the dementors closed in on him during the _quidditch_ match. Harry felt guilty just thinking about joining a feast when his parents had been killed in cold blood on that night twelve years ago, and so he turned his back and started retracing his steps back to the Infirmary when he heard someone walking behind him.

“Harry, are you okay?” He had heard Cedric ask behind him. “Has Madame Pomfrey released you already?”

“Cedric, hi.” Harry turned to him. “No, she hasn’t, but she encouraged me to get to the feast, eat some food before I came back.”

“Oh, I can take you, if you want.” Cedric offered. “I just left.”

“Thank you, Ced, but I changed my mind, I’m not going.” Harry replied ominously.

“Harry, are you okay?” Cedric walked up to him.

“I heard them, Ced.” Harry said. “When the dementors attacked me, I heard them.”

“Your parents?” Cedric put a hand on his shoulder.

“My mum.” Harry replied looking down. “She was begging _him_ not to kill me, to kill her instead.”

“Oh, Harry.” Cedric hugged him. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Harry hugged him back. “It’s just doesn’t feel right, you know? Attending a feast when they were murdered on this night years ago.”

“I understand.” Cedric let go of him. “However, you still need to eat something, and if you’re not in the mood to attend the feast I have the perfect solution.”

Cedric grabbed his hand and they went down the Great Staircase, it was starting to smell really good, and when Cedric led him down another stairwell Harry suspected where he was taking him.

They arrived in the basement where Harry had met Susan Bones on Cedric’s birthday, Cedric led him to the painting of a fruit bowl and with his other hand he tickled the pear on the painting, the pear giggled and revealed a door behind the painting, Cedric opened the door and led Harry into the high-ceilinged room behind it.

The room was large and warm, it had a lot of kitchen utensils hung on the walls, some tables on the floor, and a fireplace on the other end of the room, it was filled with house-elves. Cedric led him to one of the tables and made him sit, he left for a moment and when he came back he brought a tray of food with him.

“Here.” Cedric pushed the tray towards him as he sat down.

Harry thanked him and started eating right away, he had not realized how hungry he actually was.

“So, how cool is it sleeping just steps away from the kitchens?” Harry asked as he took his final bite.

“Pretty nice.” Cedric admitted with a smile. “I’m friends with most of the house-elves.”

“Are you really?” Harry inquired excitedly. “Have you met Dobby?”

“As a matter of fact, I have. How do you know him?” Cedric asked intrigued.

Harry told him all about Dobby, how he showed up last year in his bedroom at Privet Drive on Draco’s orders to check up on him because he had not replied to any of his letters, turns out the Dursleys had intercepted al lof Harry’s mail. Harry also told him about Dobby’s attempts to get him expelled because of the Chamber of Secrets conspiracy, and finally, he told him about Draco setting Dobby free when Lucius Malfoy’s involvement with the opening of the Chamber of Secrets last year became clear.

“Sounds like you two are really good friends.” Cedric laughed.

“Oh, we are, whenever he’s not deadset on making a _bludger_ attack me.”

“Dobby is extremely sorry about that, Harry Potter, sir.” Dobby mumbled behind them.

“Dobby! How are you?” Harry asked genuinely happy to see him.

“Dobby’s doing really well, sir, thanks for asking.” The house-elf blushed. “I see you’re friends with young Mr. Diggory.”

“I am, yes, I like him very much.” Harry replied and Cedric blushed.

“May Dobby ask how is young Master Draco doing?” Dobby inquired.

“Draco! Right!” Harry remembered, it was getting quite late. “He’s doing just fine, Dobby, I’ll tell him to come visit one day, I promise.”

“Dobby would love that, sir.”

“I have to get back, Dobby, but it was lovely to see you.” Harry said as he got up. “The food was delicious!”

Dobby nodded and looked down as he blushed, Harry and Cedric shook his hand before leaving.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize how late it was getting.” Cedric said to him.

“Don’t worry, Ced, I didn’t realize either, I just hope I don’t get in trouble with Madame Pomfrey.”

Cedric offered to escort Harry to the Infirmary and Harry agreed to it, and after walking in silence for a couple of minutes they got to the Hospital Wing.

“So are you alright? Physically, I mean.” Cedric asked him in a whisper.

“Yeah, just a little bruised.” Harry said.

“It was one hell of a fall.” Cedric replied. “I want you to know I tried to get a rematch but Flint wouldn’t give in.”

“It’s alright, Ced, it was a fair win.” Harry assured him. “I have to go now.”

“Oh, right.”

They stared awkwardly for a couple of seconds until they finally shook hands and wished each other goodnight.

“Going to bed with a full belly, Potter?” Madame Pomfrey asked as Harry tried to sneak back into the Infirmary.

“Err… Yes, actually.”

Madame Pomfrey raised an eyebrow in response and then left. Harry walked up to his bed and saw the empty chair beside it, he had hoped to see Draco still sleeping there when he came back but Madame Pomfrey had surely asked him to leave. Harry placed his hand on the edge of the bed, where Draco’s hand was before he left, and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know what you thought of it on the comments!


	12. The enemy.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry convinces Professor Lupin to teach him how to overcome his problem with dementors and Harry's friends notify him of a rumor that could be the reason behind Cedric's recent estrangement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Sorry for taking so long, I was trying to set my ideas straight.

**Chapter 12:**

**The enemy.**

Over the course of the following weeks, Harry had to train hopped on one of the school’s brooms, of course it wasn’t as fast as his previous broom, which, by the way, had flown right into the Whomping Willow after Harry’s accident, but it was something. Marcus had decided to cut the last few training sessions short because he had noticed Harry occasionally glancing nervously behind his back just in case a dementor happened to be flying after him, and to be honest, no one could blame him, they were all slightly scared of the dementors showing up, even though Dumbledore had assured them that they wouldn’t. Draco had sat through all of the training sessions after Harry’s accident, even the early morning ones, he was, perhaps, even more worried about Harry than Harry himself.

Harry loved being around Draco lately, they had had a few more Care of Magical Creatures classes since the _Buckbeak_ incident and both Draco and Hagrid were trying their best to put their differences behind them and that just warmed Harry’s heart. As for Professor Lupin, he had come back the week after Snape took his place as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, looking tired as ever. Lupin canceled the homework Snape had given them about werewolves much to everyone’s delight, except Hermione’s.

“I had already written three parchments!” Hermione lamented as they left the classroom, Professor Lupin had taught them about _Grindylows_ that day.

“Harry, can I please have a word?” They had heard Professor Lupin call behind them.

“Sure.” Harry replied as he turned around, walking back to the empty classroom.

“How are you feeling, Harry?” Lupin asked as he sat down.

“Ummm, pretty good, professor, thank you.” He replied. “And you?”

“I mean after the dementors’ attack.” Lupin said. “Are you really alright?”

Harry stayed silent for a moment, he could see Lupin staring at him in concern.

“I hear them.”

“Harry?”

“Whenever a dementor gets near me. I hear them.” Harry sighed. “My mother and _him_.”

“Voldemort?” Lupin got closer.

“Yes.” Harry nodded. “I just wish I could do something about it.”

“About what?”

“The dementors, professor. “ Harry replied swiftly. “Like what you did on the train, Hermione told me, you got rid of them.”

“Harry…”

“Can you teach me?” Harry cut in. “Professor?”

“Harry, that’s very advanced magic.” Lupin started.

“But you can teach me.” Harry insisted. “Professor, no disrespect, but you don’t know how it feels, hearing them, being so vulnerable. If you can help me…”

Lupin got up and started walking around the room with no particular destination.

“Fine.” Lupin sighed. “I’ll give you particular lessons on the subject.”

“But will you teach me how to…?”

“I’ll try to teach you how to defend yourself, yes.” Lupin laughed at the boy’s impatience. “But you must understand, it is very advance magic, I don’t expect you to dominate it.”

“It’s alright, professor.” Harry nodded. “We can try.”

“That we can.” Lupin smiled. “But we’ll start after the holidays, I need to catch up on some things. And I believe you need to catch up with Mr. Malfoy outside, Harry.”

“Thank you, professor. See you later.”

“See you later, Harry.” Lupin said as he opened the door for him with a wand movement.

Harry walked out the door and Draco was there, sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, waiting for him.

“Is everything alright?” Draco asked as he got up.

“Everything’s perfect.” Harry squeezed his hand. “Come on, I’ll race you to the Great Hall.”

For all of next week, Harry felt pretty good about himself, he had finally made friends with a Ravenclaw in Potions class, Padma Patil. Harry knew her sister Parvati from some other classes, but up until then Harry had not talked to Padma, and she was, in fact, pretty nice and astoundingly smart. Even Draco, who most of the time had a hard time opening up to strangers, liked her.

As for Cedric, well, Harry had not seen him since Halloween Night. Harry would sometimes look over to the Hufflepuff table at dinner in hopes of catching him staring back at him, but he never was, he was always looking some other way… towards the Ravenclaw table.

“Has he looked back yet?” Blaise asked, sitting beside him.

“Ummm, what?”

“Diggory. Has he looked back yet?” Blaise asked again. “That’s why you’re always glancing over there, aren’t you?”

“No. I mean, yes.” Harry said. “It’s just I haven’t really heard from him in a few weeks, you know?”

“I do know.” Blaise sipped his pumpkin juice. “Why don’t you approach him?”

“Well, I guess I just don’t want to be a bother, he’s older and probably having a hard time studying, and training, and…”

“And nothing!” Blaise cut in. “Yes, he may be older and all, but he probably has some time to catch up, don’t you think? Besides, aren’t you two friends?”

“Yeah, I guess we are.”

“ _Guess_? I mean, don’t get me wrong, we’re all guessing when it comes to you and Diggory, but I’m pretty sure you’re friends.” Blaise said. “And, Potter, if I ever hear you calling yourself a bother again I swear I’ll…”

“Alright, alright! I’m sorry.”

Blaise chuckled and got on with his food, Harry continued to stare at Cedric, who continued to stare at the Ravenclaw table.

“What is he even looking at over there?” Harry mumbled to himself.

“He’s making friends with the enemy.” Nott whispered.

“‘Enemy’? What do you mean by ‘enemy’?” Harry turned to him. “Theo! Were you listening all along?”

“I was, I’m sorry.” Nott’s cheeks turned red.

“What do you mean by ‘enemy’, Theo?” Harry asked once again.

“That Ravenclaw girl” Theo replied. “Cho Chang.”

“Who?” Harry asked, knowing exactly who she was.

“Cho.” Theo nodded. “Their seeker, I believe.”

“And why is she the enemy, may I ask?” Harry raised an eyebrow.

“Well, you’re up against her!” Nott explained. “Our next match is against Ravenclaw! Didn’t Flint tell you?”

“He may have mentioned it, now that I think about it.” Harry said to himself. “But that does not make her _the enemy_.”

“Well, if you have any intention of winning the _Quidditch_ Cup this year, it does!”

“Nonsense.” Harry dismissed him.

Harry had no reason to antagonize Cho Chang, after all, he barely knew her, and she actually seemed like a very smart, talented girl. Besides, following Theo’s logic, the other Houses’ seekers would be his enemies as well: that would include both Cedric and the newly appointed Gryffindor seeker, Ginny Weasley. And while Harry was known to be very competitive when it came to _quidditch_ , he knew better than to take things too seriously, he was no Oliver Wood.

But that didn’t mean Harry wasn’t curious as to when Cedric and Cho had gotten so familiar with one another. Harry’s stomach churned with a feeling he didn’t understand, he really hoped it was all just _quidditch_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I'm sorry if it feels a little rushed. Please let me know your thoughts on it on the comments below.


	13. The Three Broomsticks.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After managing to sneak into Hogsmeade, Harry overhears a couple of secrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully, things take an interesting turn. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Chapter 13:**

**The Three Broomsticks.**

It was annoying for Harry to listen to his friends’ plans for the holidays, of course he was happy for them, but he couldn’t help feeling a little left out sometimes. He was walking them to the Clock Tower courtyard again since it was the last weekend of the trimester and the last Hogsmeade outing before Christmas, and, throughout all of the way down there, all Harry, Ron, and Hermione heard was the Slytherins’ constant bickering about who had the best holiday plans: it all sounded the same to Harry, some ski trip in the continent, but it sure eclipsed Ron and Hermione’s bickering about their pets, apparently, _Crookshanks_ was out for blood, _Scabbers_ ’, specifically.

Harry had spent the last two Christmases at Hogwarts because he wanted to, and because Christmas at the Dursleys’ was hell for him, but that year he had actually received a letter from aunt Petunia in which she asked him not only to not return to Privet Drive for Christmas, but to not return at all to Privet Drive, ever. She was also kind enough to let him know they had already thrown out all of his remaining belongings and that his bedroom had reverted back to its original status as “Dudley’s second bedroom”, Harry had brought all of his valuable possessions to Hogwarts anyway. In a way, he was glad he had received that letter, he was glad to know they had had enough of him as he had had enough of them, surely aunt Marge’s incident was the last straw for anyone involved, but still Harry wasn’t in the least worried about his situation, after all, he had a vault filled with gold in Gringotts, he could surely pay for a room to stay over the summer at the Leaky Cauldron, everything was under control and he had no reason to tell his friends about the letter, they would only worry.

When they arrived at the Clock Tower’s courtyard they all promised, as the last time, to get him something from Hogsmeade, but Harry kindly told them all not to, Draco squeezed his hand softly before leaving.

As his friends disappeared into the wooden bridge, Harry made up a plan in his head to get to Hogsmeade on his own, it involved the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder’s Map, and when he was sure no one was around to see him, he hid under the Invisibility Cloak and took out the map from his pocket.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” Harry whispered and the map unfolded on his hand.

Fred and George had already told him of the passage, so it didn’t take that long for him to find it on the map. It was located on the third floor, and it was called the One-Eyed Witch Passage, it took a while for him to get to it from the Clock Tower but he eventually did. The passage was hidden in the statue of a one-eyed, hump-backed witch called Gunhilda de Gorsemoor.

“ _Dissendium_.” Harry read the password from the map and the witch’s hump opened to reveal the entrance to a slim tunnel.

The witch’s hump closed as he entered the tunnel, which was dimly lit by some old torches hung on the walls, but Harry still cast _Lumos_ with his wand to get some more light and proceeded to follow the way of the tunnel, checking the map from time to time to make sure he was going in the right direction.

He didn’t have a clock on him, but he was sure nearly an hour had passed since he started walking down the passage and he was starting to get tired, but according to the map, he was nearly there.

At the end of the passage a ladder on the wall lead him to a cellar, which Harry analyzed as he closed the trapdoor behind him, it was filled with wooden crates with candies inside of them, and by the things his friends had told him about Hogsmeade, Harry assumed he was at Honeydukes’ cellar.

“Mischief managed.” Harry whispered, and the writings on the map disappeared.

Still under the Cloak of Invisibility, Harry walked out of the cellar through some stairs in the back of the room. Before him stood the coolest shop Harry had ever laid eyes on, the walls were colourful as were the candies hanging from them, it was full of boys and girls of all ages, all of them happy as can be.

As Harry walked out of Honeydukes, being careful as to not crash with anyone, he fell in love with Hogsmeade. The village’s High Street looked like a Christmas card, all of the shops and cottages were covered in a layer of snow, as was the street itself, and the trees were decorated with enchanted candles. Harry walked under the Invisibility Cloak, looking for his friends but he found Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang walking beside one another, carrying some bags, instead, they got inside an establishment called The Three Broomsticks and Harry followed them inside.

The Three Broomsticks was a large and busy establishment filled with tables, it was run by an attractive middle-aged woman known as Madame Rosmerta, Harry suspected Hermione had a little crush on her since she blushed at every mention of her when she told him of their first visit to Hogsmeade a few weeks ago.

Cho and Cedric sat at a table in the back of the establishment, where there wasn’t nearly as much as people as in the front. Harry followed them and sat near them, he was thankful for the Invisibility Cloak. Harry didn’t like the thought of it, but he had to admit Cho and Cedric would make a handsome couple, Harry found Cedric to be breathtakingly gorgeous, in addition to him being overall charming and intelligent, and while he didn’t know Cho that well, she found her to be beautiful too, she had a sweet smile and her long, dark hair fell dramatically over her shoulders, he was a little jealous of what she had going on since his hair was always messy, he only liked that small strand of white hair over his scar, and he was slightly insecure about his smile, no matter how many times Draco had told him it was beautiful.

“Did we get all you needed?” Cho asked Cedric.

“I think we did, I’m positive this year’s Christmas presents are going to be a big success.” Cedric smiled, and Harry had missed his smile. “Thank you for helping me, picking out presents isn’t my strong suit.”

“I’m happy to be of help.” Cho laughed. “Should we order?”

Cedric raised his hand and as soon as Madame Rosmerta saw him she left the bar and took their orders. They ordered a jar of butterbeer, which was quickly delivered along with two glasses.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go get that quill for Marietta after this?” Cedric asked after taking a sip of butterbeer.

“Yeah, it’s alright. I’ll get her something later.” Cho replied. “Besides I have questions.”

Well, we have that in common, Harry thought.

“Do you? Alright, spit it out.” Cedric joked.

“Why would you buy such a big present for someone you barely talk to anymore?” Cho asked raising an eyebrow.

“Are you talking about Harry?” Cedric sighed.

“Of course, who else?” Cho said. “Since we became friends, I’ve noticed that every single time the boy’s on sight you avoid him, I thought you two were close.”

“We were… we are!” Cedric corrected himself. “It’s just I don’t want to make things awkward between him and me.”

“Awkward? In what way?”

Yes, Cedric, do tell.

“Well, we had a moment on my birthday… and we almost kissed.” Cedric explained shyly. “ _I wanted to kiss him_.”

Harry could feel his cheeks burn under the cloak.

“What do you mean ‘almost’?” Cho asked, very invested in the conversation.

“Well, we were alone, our faces were so close, and I wanted to do it, but he didn’t look too sure, he looked nervous, almost uncomfortable.” Cedric looked down. “He ended up kissing me on the cheek, and it was beautiful but I’m afraid he did it out of panic.”

“So you’re avoiding him because you’re overthinking something that happened almost two months ago?” Cho asked bluntly.

“Yeah… I guess I am.” Cedric replied. “It’s just… I hate to think that I made him uncomfortable, you know? And then we had that mess of a _quidditch_ match, and it hasn’t been very easy.”

“Have you talked to him about this?”

“Yes! He told me I didn’t make him feel uncomfortable but- !"

“Not that, you idiot!” Cho laughed. “Have you talked to him about your feelings for him?”

“No, I haven’t. It’s easier to avoid him.” Cedric laughed, but Cho didn’t laugh back.

“Idiot.” Cho said again. “What makes you think that’s fair on him?”

You tell him, girl.

“You’re right, but I can’t tell him I like him!”

“Why not?” Cho asked. “I’ve seen you two, he seems to like you back.”

“Alright, let’s say I’m lucky and he does like me back.” Cedric said. “It wouldn’t be fair on him either!”

“What?! Why?!”

“Because I’m almost two years older than him!” Cedric replied.

“You’re not even that much older!”

“Perhaps, but see it this way: I’m fifteen and he’s thirteen.” Cedric explained after taking a big sip of butterbeer. “We work as friends, yeah, but even if he does like me back, he’s still too young to be in a relationship with someone older! And I’d hate to ruin our friendship with this.”

“Okay, you’re right, maybe _now_ ’s not the time.” Cho agreed. “But if you still like him in, let’s say, a year, _you need_ to tell him.”

“Oh, I will, I most certainly will.” Cedric smiled. “It’s just now’s not the time, but I will.”

“Yeah, you better.” Cho laughed.

“I just hope that best friend of his doesn’t ask him out before I do.” Cedric said bitterly. “He’s always circling around like a vulture.”

“Malfoy?” Cho asked in surprise. “Does he like him, too?”

“Oh, he adores him!” Cedric replied. “It’s funny, really, the only people that don’t know Malfoy loves Harry are Malfoy and Harry.”

“That sure sounds like a- wait, is that the minister?!” Cho asked squinting her eyes.

“It is, and that’s Hagrid and Professors Flitwick and McGonagall with him!”

Harry turned to the door and, as Cho and Cedric were saying, Cornelius Fudge had just gotten inside, along with Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick and Hagrid.

“Rosmerta, dear! How’s everything going?” Fudge greeted as he removed his ridiculous little hat from his head.

“I think I speak for everyone when I say everything would be better if it weren’t for the dementors roaming the streets since noon!” Madame Rosmerta growled.

“Oh, Rosmerta, well…”

“Cornelius.” McGonagall cut in. “Why don’t we grab a table first?”

“You’re right.” Fudge agreed. “Rosmerta, why don’t you join us?”

“Oh, yes, I will”

Unsurprisingly, Fudge, McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid, and Madame Rosmerta grabbed a table in the back of the establishment, just as Cho and Cedric had done, in fact, their tables weren’t that far apart, Harry was sitting just between them.

“As I was saying.” Fudge continued. “I know dementors are not the best company, but they’re a necessary evil.”

“Necessary?” Rosmerta scoffed.

“Look, not many people know of this, since I asked him to keep it under wraps.” Fudge bragged. “But Aberforth Dumbledore came to see me a few weeks ago- “

“That madman?!” Rosmerta sneered.

“Aberforth Dumbledore is a very sane man, Rosmerta, thank you very much.” McGonagall said coldly. “Go on, minister.”

“He came to see me, to the Ministry and all! I knew it was serious since he barely leaves that pub of his.” Fudge said. “He didn’t even sit down, he just said to me he had seen Sirius Black in Hogsmeade, walking in broad daylight at High Street!”

“No offense, minister, but do you honestly believe that?” Rosmerta asked and McGonagall glared at her.

“He may have a questionable reputation, but he’s Dumbledore’s brother, I can’t simply dismiss him.” Cornelius replied. “Besides, when it comes to Black one can never be too careful, I had to do something.”

“Dementors put me on edge, but it was the right call.” Hagrid agreed.

“I still can’t believe it.” Madame Rosmerta nodded. “Sirius Black, I mean. I remember him as a student, and of all the people that turned to the Dark side, I never expected him to do so.”

“And you don’t even know half the story.” Fliwick mumbled.

“Ah, yes, people always seem to leave out the worst part.” Fudge said.

“The worst part?” Rosmerta asked.

Harry as so invested in Fudge’s conversation he didn’t even notice when Cho and Cedric left, leaving behind some galleons over the table next to the check.

“You said you remember him.” McGonagall said. “Do you know who his best friend was?”

“James Potter, of course! They were inseperable!” Rosmerta replied.

“Yes, both very clever, heads of their own little gang.” McGonagall recalled with a sad smile on her face. “Troublemakers.”

“They were as close as brothers!” Flitwick cut in.

“And they continued to be close even after they graduated.” Fudge continued. “Lily and James asked Sirius to be Harry’s godfather after his birth, he doesn’t know of course, imagine how that would make the poor boy feel.”

Harry didn’t have to imagine it, he felt his heart drop to the floor, breathless.

“And as you know, the Potters were in You-Know-Who’s radar.” McGonagall said. “Dumbledore advised them to hide, use the _Fidelius_ charm.”

“And how does that work?” Madame Rosmerta asked.

“It’s an extremely complex spell.” Flitwick explained. “It conceals a secret inside a single, living soul. Whatever that information is, it resides inside the chosen person, the Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find, unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it.”

“And was Sirius Black the Potters’ Secret-Keeper?” Rosmerta asked, already knowing the answer.

“Indeed.” McGonagall nodded. “Dumbledore himself offered to be their Secret-Keeper, but James insisted, he told him ‘Sirius would sooner die’ than reveal their location to anyone else.”

“Did Dumbledore suspect of Black?”

“Not of him necessarily.” McGonagall replied. “He suspected we had a traitor among us, that someone was revealing information to You-Know-Who.”

“And not a week passed since he was appointed Secret-Keeper when…” Fudge stopped himself.

“He betrayed them?” Madame Rosmerta gasped.

“He betrayed them.” Fudge nodded. “Of course it didn’t go as he had expected, the Dark Lord vanished and Harry survived, which left him in an uncomfortable position.”

“That traitor.” Hagrid said loudly than intended.

“Hagrid, shhh.” McGonagall glared at him.

“I ran into him that night.” Hagrid told them. “Dumbledore asked me to retrieve baby Harry when he suddenly appeared, he begged me to give Harry to him ‘he’s my godson, Hagrid, it’s what they would’ve wanted’, but Dumbledore had given me strict orders and so I told him. I thought he had heard of the attack and had come to help, he was pale and shaky, and you know what I did? I comforted the evil son of a- !”

“Hagrid!” McGonagall called. “Lower your voice.”

“He wasn’t sad about the Potters’ fate, he was sad about You-Know-Who’s.” Hagrid said angrily. “I told him I needed to take Harry’s to the Dursleys’ and he even offered me his motorcycle ‘I don’t need it anymore’ he said. He knew the Ministry would be after him at any minute.”

“But he didn’t get away with it, the Ministry caught him the very next day, right?” Madame Rosmerta asked.

“If only, my dear.” McGonagall replied sadly.

“It was Peter Pettigrew who caught him, a friend of them, as well.” Fudge said. “All the eye-witnesses, _muggles_ , of course, said he confronted him. ‘Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?’ and as he got out his wand, Black got out his, he was faster, of course. Black ended him.”

“Foolish boy.” McGonagall blew her nose. “He should’ve left it to the Ministry, he was never good at duels.”

“I was one of the first to arrive at the crime scene, it was a mess.” Fudge bragged. “He blew up a hole in the middle of the street, killed a bunch of _muggles_ , and there he was, bloody, lying on the ground, with Peter Pettigrew’s only remainings in front of him, his little finger, laughing.”

“So, is it true what they say?” Rosmerta asked quietly. “Is he crazy?”

“I wish I could say he is.” Fudge said. “But in one of my last inspections to Azkaban I went to see him, the dementors had barely made any effect on him he asked if I had read the newspaper.”

“You don’t think he intends to reunite with You-Know-Who now that he’s managed to escape, do you?” Madame Rosmerta was close to starting to bite her fingernails out of nervousness.

“I think that’s Black’s final goal, yes.” The minister replied. “You-Know-Who powerless and alone is one thing, but with his most devoted ally by his side… I tremble at the thought.”

The table stayed silent for a couple of seconds but Harry didn’t stay much longer, he took a deep breath and ran out of the establishment. Harry returned to Honeydukes and started to make his way back to the castle through the passage, his breathing was heavy and he felt as if he could lose consciousness at any moment, but luckily he didn’t.

The moment he arrived back at the castle, he started to make his way to the dungeons, he needed to lay down for a moment, but as he walked he noticed something wasn’t right. The hallway that led to the common room, where he had kissed Cedric on the cheek, was awfully quiet, he turned to the walls and gasped, all the portraits were savagely torn.

“We wouldn’t tell him the password to the common room.” A girl in a portrait sobbed.

“Who? Who did this?” Harry asked, scared to know the answer.

“Sirius Black.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you thought of this chapter on the comments below. :)


	14. Sleigh rides and decorations.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and his friends stay at Hogwarts for the Holidays and find themselves in desperate need of doing something to pass the time as they eagerly wait for Christmas Day.

**Chapter 14:**

**Sleigh rides and decorations.**

All Slytherins had to sleep in the Great Hall that night while the staff searched for Sirius Black inside of the castle, but the man was nowhere to be seen. Harry didn’t get any sleep that night. The Houses’ tables were magically removed from the Great Hall and in their place, the floor was covered by an exaggerated amount of little individual mattresses with itchy gray bed sheets. Over the course of the night, Harry found comfort in Draco’s presence, the blond boy slept right next to him, they had never slept in such close proximity and Harry discovered that Draco moved a lot in his sleep, kicking him several times. There was a moment just before dawn when Draco put his arm around Harry, it took him by surprise, but only then Harry got a little sleep.

The next morning they all returned to their common room, Professor Snape had assured them they had nothing to fear, according to the portraits, Sirius Black had not gotten the password to the common room. Harry and Draco changed their clothes before walking their friends to the entrance courtyard. Pansy, Blaise, and Theo would still leave Hogwarts for the Holidays, but Draco refused to leave Harry’s side after what had happened the day before, Harry assured him several times that he was fine and that he didn’t have to stay, but Draco insisted, and deep inside, Harry was glad he did.

As more and more students left for the Holidays, Hogwarts had an eery feeling in the air, the once loud and overcrowded hallways were now silent and deserted, Harry found it to be strangely peaceful.

In the days leading to Christmas, Harry would enjoy taking walks on the castle’s grounds with Draco, Ron, and Hermione. They would also take rides on sleighs over the now frozen Black Lake and join Hagrid for tea over the afternoon, they had so much free time they even helped Professor Flitwick decorate the Great Hall, but they weren’t the only volunteers, Cho and Cedric were helping Professor Sprout groom the Christmas trees on the other side of the room and Harry could swear Cedric winked at him.

Harry decided that he would not act on anything he had overheard during Cho and Cedric’s conversations at The Three Broomsticks, it was supposed to be a private conversation after all. Harry had also decided that he would be the one to break the ice between Cedric and himself.

“Nice job.” Harry walked up to the Hufflepuff. “You could make a living out of this.”

“Harry! How are you?” Cedric turned to him.

“Better, now that you’re not actively avoiding me.” Harry chuckled.

“Only because you caught me off guard.” Cedric joked.

“Very funny.”

“No, but jokes aside, I’m sorry about that.” Cedric got closer to him. “I don’t know what was I thinking and I now realize it wasn’t fair on you.”

“No worries, Ced.” Harry blushed after remembering the actual reason behind Cedric’s actions. “So, why are you here? For the Holidays, I mean.”

“Well, I have never spent Christmas at Hogwarts, didn’t want to miss out on all the magic.” Cedric replied. “What about you?”

“I like it better here than at the Dursleys’.” Harry replied.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here.” Cedric squeezed his hand.

“I’m glad as well.” Cho, said joining the conversation. “Cho Chang, I don’t think we have been formally introduced before.”

“Harry Potter, and no, I think we haven’t.” Harry smiled as he shook her hand.

“I’ve heard so much about you.” Cho said.

“Good things, I hope.” Harry laughed. “I’d love to say the same to you but Cedric here hasn’t been a man of many words lately.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Cedric blushed.

“Anyway, how did you two become friends?” Harry asked.

“It was after your accident with the dementors, in fact.” Cho said.

“While Professor Dumbledore and the others took you to the Hospital Wing, I went to look for your broom.” Cedric explained. “But Cho was already on it, and by the moment it occurred to me to go look by the Whomping Willow Cho had already managed to rescue what was left of your broom.”

“It broke my heart to see your broom in such conditions.” Cho looked down. “Have you gotten a replacement yet?”

“I’m still on it.” Harry replied. “I’ve been looking through some broom catalogs, since I’m not allowed to go to Hogsmeade, but I’m not entirely sold.”

“We should go get some butterbeer one of these days, the three of us, whenever you’re allowed to go, of course!” Cho proposed.

“Yeah! Harry, you’re going to love butterbeer!” Cedric cheered.

“Am I not invited to this gathering?” Draco said, suddenly cutting in the conversation.

“Ummm, sure! The more, the merrier!” Cho said offering Draco her hand. “Cho Chang, it’s a pleasure meeting you.”

“Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.” Draco kissed her hand instead, to everyone’s surprise. “The pleasure is all mine.”

Harry cleared his throat in awkwardness while Cedric stared in silence.

“Draco.” Cedric greeted coldly.

“Diggory, do you mind telling me when did we start referring to each other on a first-name basis?” Draco turned to him.

“The moment you decided it was alright to join others’ conversations uninvited, I believe.” Cedric didn’t hesitate for one second.

“And that’s our cue, good evening to you all.” Harry said as he dragged Draco out of the Great Hall. “It was nice meeting you, Cho!”

“Hey, I was being friendly!” Draco protested as they reached the hallway.

“A little too friendly, I think.” Harry hissed. “To Cho, especially.”

“Someone’s jealous.” Draco teased. “I can kiss your hand, as well, if you want me to.”

“Someone’s flirty.” Harry scoffed.

“I was just being the gentleman I was raised to be!” Draco said jokingly.

“Sure, Sir Cadogan.” Harry replied as he held back a smile.

Draco pretended to be offended but he still wouldn’t let go of Harry’s hand as they made their way back to the deserted Slytherin common room.

When they reached the portrait hallway that led to the common room’s entrance Harry made sure to look down at the floor, avoiding at all costs looking at the torn portraits, which Harry had found very unsettling to look at.

As they walked closer toward the entrance Draco muttered the password and the wall opened before them, welcoming them to the familiarity of their common room, that was now decorated according to the festivities.

“You do know I kissed Cho’s hand as a joke, right?” Draco asked breaking the silence. “I mean, I was glad to make her acquaintance and all, but it wasn’t _that_ serious.”

“Draco, it’s alright. It’s not like I mind, really.” Harry assured him with a warm smile. “I only got us out of there because Cedric is my friend, too, and things between you two were starting to heat up.”

“But, what if I want you to mind?” Draco replied bluntly as he stared into Harry’s eyes.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked puzzled.

“Nothing.” Draco said as he walked closer to Harry. “I’ll just make sure to try and cross Diggory more often, then.”

Harry opened his mouth to protest when suddenly Draco gave him a peck on the cheek that left him speechless.

“Helping with the decorations was exhausting.” Draco said as if nothing had happened. “I’m gonna take a nap, care to join me?”

“Errr… sure.” Harry blushed.

They laid on one of the common room’s sofas and, without meaning to, fell asleep until the next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, maybe they weren't in "desperate need of doing something to pass the time", but I sure enjoyed making the summary sound that extra.  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter (you can expect a follow-up chapter soon!), please let me know your thoughts on it on the comments below! :)


	15. Christmas presents all around.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Draco wake up to a lot of surprises and an awkward breakfast at the Great Hall on Christmas Day.

**Chapter 15:**

**Christmas presents all around.**

On Christmas morning, Harry and Draco found themselves sound asleep on one of the common room’s sofas, since they were the only Slytherins that had spent their Holidays at the castle it meant no trouble to any of their classmates. Over the past few days, Harry had grown used to Draco’s unconscious kicking, and Draco had learned to ignore Harry’s snoring, in fact, he even found Harry’s snoring to be quite rhythmical and it helped him fall asleep faster. They would always wake up in the strangest positions: in that particular morning, Harry ended up on the other end of the sofa, with one of his feet on the back of Draco’s head, hidden by the blond’s hair, while Draco hugged his other leg.

Harry had been listening to a little voice calling both his and Draco’s names in his dreams for the last couple of minutes but, as he slowly opened his eyes and reached for his glasses, he realized the voice was not really part of his, now blurry and forgotten, dream: Dobby the house-elf stood just centimeters away from his face, with his enormous green eyes wide open staring at him and a slight grin, carrying a tray of biscuits.

“Merry Christmas, Harry Potter, sir.” Dobby greeted.

“Merry Christmas, Dobby.” Harry yawned as he shook the leg Draco was hugging in an attempt to wake him up.

“What?” Draco groaned, still clinging to his dream.

“Merry Christmas, Draco.” Harry said. “Dobby has decided to pay us a visit.”

“What? Who?” Draco asked regaining consciousness.

“Dobby can come back later if Master Draco wishes to go back to sleep.” Dobby offered.

“Oh, Dobby, no! I’m sorry.” Draco quickly got up and apologized to the house-elf. “I was still asleep and didn’t quite grasp what was going on, I’m sorry.”

“Master Draco does not need to apologize to Dobby.” The house-elf blushed. “Dobby just wanted to make sure he was the first to wish a Merry Christmas to both Master Draco and Harry Potter, sir.”

“Merry Christmas to you, too, Dobby.” Draco smiled at him. “What do you got there?”

“Dobby wasn’t sure of what to get you, so Dobby decided to bake some biscuits.” Dobby replied as he left the tray over one of the tables. “Dobby remembered how much Master Draco enjoyed Dobby’s biscuits as a little kid and he hopes both Master Draco and Mr. Harry Potter enjoy them on this day.”

“You were very thoughtful, Dobby, thank you very much.” Harry thanked the elf for both of them since Draco seemed to be too busy holding back tears.

Dobby nodded and gave both of them a reassuring look before starting to walk away.

“There are a couple of presents for both of you under the tree, by the way.” Dobby announced before disapparating with a snap of his fingers.

“God, that elf sure makes me teary-eyed.” Draco sighed. “Should we go open the presents?”

“Let’s go.” Harry offered him his hand before excitedly running off to the tree.

The Christmas tree was located just next to the common room’s fireplace, whose existence made Harry wonder about the logistics of the castle since the Slytherin common room was, after all, a glass away from becoming part of the Black Lake, but like with all things that didn’t quite click in the wizarding world, Harry just sighed, attributed it to magic and went on with his day.

The two boys got on his knees and snatched the presents from under the tree, Harry tore apart all of the wrapping paper, unlike Draco, who took his time and carefully unwrapped all of his presents.

“What did you get?” Draco asked.

“Let’s see.” Harry said as he analyzed his presents. “Professor Snape got me some enchanted _quidditch_ goggles, Mrs. Diggory got me a framed copy of a picture she took of Cedric and me over the summer, your mother got me a box of chocolate frogs and Mrs. Weasley knitted me a sweater.”

“Oooh! I got one, too!” Draco announced excitedly.

“Well, of course you got one, too! She adores you!” Harry replied.

“I guess I just didn’t expect her to get me something after the whole Tom Riddle’s diary thing.” Draco said softly.

“What else you got?” Harry asked as he patted his friend’s back.

“Well, Professor Snape got me… a cane?” Draco laughed. “Who does he think I am? Lucius himself?”

“Well, it is your middle name.” Harry teased. “What else?”

“My mother got me some winter robes.” The blond added. “And Mrs. Weasley’s sweater.”

“Wait, I think Mrs. Weasly got us matching sweaters!” Harry said. “Let’s put them on!”

Molly Weasley had indeed knit both sweaters with the same shade of dark green wool yarn, the only difference was the boys’ different initials knitted in silver wool yarn on the sweater’s chest.

“It brings out your eyes.” Draco complimented him.

“Thank you.” Harry replied. “Come on, let’s leave the presents at the dorm so we can go have some breakfast.”

Draco nodded and they both walked to their dorm.

Harry was placing his presents on top of his bed when he suddenly noticed something odd on the note Draco’s mum had written him.

“Draco?” Harry called. “How did your mum sign your present’s note?”

“ ‘ _Love, mummy._ ’ Why?” Draco replied.

“Well, in mine she wrote this.” Harry cleared his throat. “ ‘Dear _Harry, Draco has told me of your Chocolate Frog card collection, so I decided to give you these, in hopes you get the missing cards and have a delicious treat in the process. Love, Narcissa Black._ ’ Narcissa Black.”

“How weird, she never uses her maiden name.” Draco mumbled.

“I didn’t even know her maiden name is ‘Black’.”

“Oh no, I know where you’re going with this and it’s not what you think.” Draco said. “Believe me when I tell you the Blacks are a very, very large family.”

“So she is related to Sirius Black?” Harry asked.

“Well, yes, they’re cousins.” Draco sighed. “But according to mum, Sirius was disowned.”

“Really? Did she tell you the reason why?” Harry inquired.

“She doesn’t know, they weren’t very close.” The blond replied.

Harry hummed in response.

“I’m getting really hungry, can we go have some breakfast, please?” Draco changed subjects.

“Yeah, sure.”

Before leaving the common room Draco took a bunch of Dobby’s biscuits and put them in his pocket, from where he proceeded to eat on their way to the Great Hall.

“You got me thinking.” Draco said as they arrived to the entrance hall.

“Really?” Harry asked as he stood outside the Great Hall’s golden doors, ready to get in.

“Yeah, I wonder if things between my parents are alright.” Draco replied. “With my mother signing with her maiden name and all.”

“Wait, your father didn’t send you anything, did he?”

“Oh, I didn’t even realize!” Draco laughed. “Anyway, let’s get inside, I’m starving.”

Harry opened the door for both of them and as they got inside they noticed that all of the Houses’ tables and the Staff’s tables were gone, and, in their place, a large table with thirteen chairs surrounding it stood in the middle of the Great Hall, with professor Dumbledore sitting at the head of it.

“Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy, Merry Christmas.” The Headmaster greeted them. “Come join us.

On Dumbledore’s left sat Hermione, Ron, Cho, and Cedric, leaving two empty chairs at the end of the table, and on his right sat a first-year Ravenclaw boy and Professors Snape, Flitwick, Hagrid, and McGonagall, leaving an empty seat at McGonagall’s left.

“I thought it ridiculous to follow our usual set-up since there are so few of us.” Dumbledore added. “Come on now, sit.”

The boys nodded and walked toward the table, Harry decided to sit between Cedric and Draco, thinking it was the best course of action if they were to have a peaceful breakfast. Cedric left his seat to pull Harry’s chair back to help him take his seat, Harry thanked him with a discreet grin.

“Sir Diggory.” Draco hissed to himself.

“Merry Christmas, everyone!” Harry said to both students and professors.

“Merry Christmas.” Everyone replied in unison.

“Headmaster, are we to start eating?” McGonagall asked as she looked down on the empty table.

“In a minute, Professor.” Dumbledore replied. “I have a feeling someone will join us soon.”

“A feeling, he says!” McGonagall humphed to herself.

“So.” Harry started, in order to avoid an uncomfortable silence. “You’re a first-year? I don’t think I’ve seen you around.”

“Errr… yes.” The Ravenclaw boy blushed as suddenly everyone’s gazes turned on him. “My name’s Derek, Cho convinced me to go get some breakfast with her since we’re the only Ravenclaws that stayed for the Holidays.”

“That was very thoughtful of Miss Chang.” Professor Flitwick smiled at her.

“Very thoughtful indeed.” Dumbledore nodded.

“Mr. Malfoy, is there a reason why you and Mr. Potter decided to wear matching sweaters on Christmas Day?” Professor Snape inquired.

“Oh, that was my mum’s doing.” Ron cut in, to Snape’s disgust. “She always knits sweaters on Christmas for our family and friends, Hermione’s got one, too!”

“Yes, I can see that, Mr. Weasley.” Snape replied in his usual monotonous tone.

“Oh, sorry.” Ron shrugged in his chair.

“I’ve always admired Molly for it.” McGonagall said as he gave Ron a comforting look. “She always finds a way to make everyone feel welcome.”

“Who are we waiting for, again?” Hagrid asked loudly.

“Merry Christmas, everyone!” Professor Trelawney greeted as she opened the Great Hall’s doors. “Headmaster, I saw a visión of myself having breakfast with the lot of you last night so I decided best to follow the crystal ball’s wisdom and abandon my usual confinement.”

“Well, I’m glad you did, Sybill.” Dumbledore smiled at her. “There’s an empty seat at Minerva’s left.”

Professor Trelawney dragged her feet through the floor as she got closer to the table, her eyes, maximized by her gigantic glasses, gave everyone a quick look.

“Oh, no, I’m afraid I can’t!” Professor Trelawney gasped. “I’ll doom us all if I sit!”

“Lord have mercy on us all.” Draco lamented quietly.

“Sybill, dear, care to explain?” Flitwick inquired.

“If I take a seat, there’ll be thirteen of us.” Trelawney stated the obvious.

“We’re well aware of the table’s occupants.” Snape said. “Your point being?”

“The first one to leave a table with thirteen occupants is the first one to die!” Trelawney pointed at the empty seat with a shaky, menacing finger.

“We’ll take our chances.” McGonagall dismissed her, both hungry and annoyed. “For the last time, would you please take a seat?”

Professor Trelawney finally caved in and sat, not before resentfully glancing at Minerva McGonagall.

“Excellent.” Dumbledore smiled relieved. “Let’s eat.”

The Headmaster clapped once, very loudly, and ginormous amounts of food presented in wide golden trays appeared before them. Everyone was quick to grab whatever they craved the most, apparently, everyone was equally hungry.

“Headmaster?” Trelawney called as she munched some sausages. “I see Professor Lupin won’t be joining us today, is there a reason for that?”

Both Harry and Hermione discreetly looked up at Dumbledore, both eagerly waiting for an answer.

“Dear Remus was not feeling himself this morning.” Dumbledore explained.

“Poor Professor Lupin.” Trelawney lamented. “I’m afraid he’ll leave us soon, the tea leaves don’t lie.”

“Really?” McGonagall raised a condescending eyebrow at the Divination teacher.

“Yes, Minerva, really.” Trelawney imitated her tone.

“That’s funny, Sybill.” Dumbledore said, giving an end to McGonagall and Trelawney’s bickering. “It’s my understanding that Professor Lupin is not in any immediate danger. Severus, have you brewed him the potion?”

“I have.” Snape replied before shoving a spoonful of soup down his throat.

“Good.”

Harry couldn’t help but wonder what potion were they talking about, but he figured he wouldn’t get an answer even if he asked, so he got on with his breakfast, which he enjoyed very much.

“Hey.” Cedric whispered. “I got you something, it’s in my common room, though. Do you want to come get it with me?”

“Ummm, sure.” Harry replied as he turned to Draco. “Hey, I’m going somewhere, see you later in the common room?”

“I guess.” Draco growled.

“Let’s go, Ced.” Harry said as they both got up from their seats.

“Oh no, my darlings!” Trelawney yelped. “Which one of you left their seats first?”

“I don’t know, professor, I’m sorry.” Harry replied holding back laughter.

“Honestly, Sybill.” McGonagall snapped. “Unless there’s a madman with an ax behind the door waiting for Potter and Diggory, does it really matter which one of them left their seats first?”

Ron couldn’t help but cackle at McGonagall’s words, even Snape seemed to be restraining himself from laughing. Professor Trelawney limited herself to glare at Ron.

“Ummm… we were leaving.” Cedric uncomfortably announced to the rest of the table. “It was lovely having breakfast with all of you, thank you.”

“Thank you for your kind words, Mr. Diggory. Mr. Potter.” The Headmaster nodded at them.

Harry made sure to check behind the Great Hall’s doors as they left, just in case a madman with an ax was indeed waiting for them, no one was there. Cedric led him to the Great Staircase and they arrived at the Hufflepuff common room in no time.

“I feel bad.” Harry said as he sat on one of the common room’s sofas.

“Why?”

“Well, I didn’t get you anything.” Harry admitted.

“Don’t worry. For me, being with you is already a present.” Cedric blurted. “Now, wait here and close your eyes.”

Harry obeyed, and he heard every step Cedric took as he left and made his way back to the common room. It took only a few seconds.

“You can open your eyes now.” Cedric announced holding a big rectangular box wrapped in silver wrapping paper.

Harry jumped from the sofa and basically snatched the present from Cedric hands, amusing him. Harry didn’t tear apart the wrapping paper as he had done back in the Slytherin common room, he unwrapped it carefully instead.

“ ‘ _Herpo The Foul: A Collection_ ’.” Harry read the cover of the gigantic book as he took it out of the box.

“Herpo The Foul was an ancient greek dark wizard.” Cedric said proudly.

“ _Oh?_ ”

“I just thought you’d find him interesting.”

“Is there a reason why you thought I would find interesting a collection of a dark wizard’s texts, Diggory?” Harry inquired.

“No, no, no, wait, I didn’t mean it like that.” Cedric shaked his head. “This summer, when you told me about what happened at the Chamber of Secrets I started making some research of my own.”

“Okay?” Harry said, not quite getting Cedric’s point.

“Herpo The Foul was a Parselmouth, okay?” Cedric blurted. “The first recorded basilisk was bred by him… he did some dark stuff, but I’d focus on the Parselmouth thing. I just thought you’d find it useful, you know? Learning a bit more about your abilities as a Parselmouth.”

Harry stared stunned at Cedric, it was… an unusual present, to say the least, but the more Cedric explained, the more Harry understood what he actually meant.

“I messed up, didn’t I?” Cedric sighed.

“No, no, no!” Harry hugged him. “Not at all!”

“Your face sort of said otherwise.” Cedric told him, disappointed.

“Well, it was a rather unusual gift.” Harry looked up at him, with his arms still around the older boy’s waist. “But I know what you meant, and I’m actually very curious about what our friend Herpo here has to say.”

“So… do you like it?” Cedric smiled briefly.

“I like it.” Harry assured him.

“Good.” Cedric kissed his forehead.

“However, I need to leave.” Harry said as he let go of Cedric.

“What? Why?” Cedric asked making puppy eyes.

“Something tells me I shouldn’t be at someone else’s common room when there’s no one around to watch over us.” Harry told him.

“Scared of what might happen?” Cedric winked at him.

“No.” Harry laughed. “Scared of getting in trouble.”

“You’re hanging out with a prefect, you’re not getting in trouble.” Cedric said.

“Hanging out with a prefect doesn’t mean we can’t still get in trouble.” Harry reminded him. “You still have to answer to professors, mister.”

“Fine.” Cedric caved in. “But let me take you to your common room.”

“Are you kidding? You’re scared of the dungeons!” Harry teased him.

“Only at night!” Cedric defended himself. “Let me take you, please?”

“Alright.” Harry nodded.

“Alright.”

Cedric walked him out of the Hufflepuff common room and this time Harry took the lead, since he was the one who knew the way to his common room like the palm of his hand.

“Did I tell you your mother got me something?” Harry asked Cedric as they descended toward the dungeon.

“I don’t think so.” Cedric replied as he tried to remember. “What did she get you?”

“A framed copy of the picture he took of us over the summer.”

“You’re kidding! She got me the same thing!” Cedric cheered.

“Really?”

“Really!” Cedric told him. “I already put in over my bedside table.”

“How sweet.” Harry replied. “I think I’ll do the same.”

“Brilliant!”

As they reached the portrait gallery that led to the Slytherin common room, Cedric stood in awe.

“Damn, they told me it was bad, but they didn’t say how bad.” Cedric said.

“The portraits?” Harry asked, avoiding to look at them.

“Yeah, it’s creepy.

Harry meant to say something back to Cedric but something else caught his attention, there was a large, thin gift box leaned on the entrance wall to the common room.

“What’s that?” Cedric asked as Harry got closer to it.

“ ‘ _To Harry_ ’.” Harry read the note on it.

Harry got down on his knees as he opened the box, he suspected what might be from the box’s shape but he didn’t expect it to be true: there was a broom inside of it, but not just any broom, it was a _Firebolt_.

“Something tells me Cho might lose when you’re up against her.” Cedric said as he admired the room. “It doesn’t say whose it from?”

“No.” Harry replied, still not believing his eyes.

“Got any suspicions?”

“I wish I could say yes, but every name that comes to mind sounds as impossible as the last.”

“Oh, well… enjoy it?”

“Thank you, Ced.” Harry laughed. “For the book, and for taking me all the way down here.”

“My pleasure.” Cedric squeezed his hand. “Merry Christmas, Harry.”

“Merry Christmas, Ced.”

The boy squeezed his hand one last time before turning his back on him and retracing his steps back to his common room. Harry mumbled the password quietly and the wall opened before him, he got inside, with Cedric’s book in one hand and the _Firebolt_ in the other.

“DIGGORY GOT YOU A _FIREBOLT_?!” Draco jumped from his seat as Harry came in.

“No, Cedric got me a book.”

“Who got you the _Firebolt_ , then?”

“I haven’t the faintest idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!  
> Please let me know your thoughts on it on the comments below.


	16. A change of plans.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry, Draco, and Cedric bonding time, that's it, that's the tweet.

**Chapter 16:**

**A change of plans.**

It was just Harry’s luck that Snape found out about the _Firebolt_. The man did not step foot into the common room in any days throughout the Holidays, but the morning he and Draco decided to wake up early and test the _Firebolt_ out, Snape happened to be casually sitting on one of the sofas.

“Going somewhere?” Snape asked folding his copy of that morning’s Daily Prophet.

“Professor, good morning.” Harry greeted. “Yes, actually, Draco and I were planning on going to the _Quidditch_ Pitch. Cedric Diggory is already there, waiting for us, so, if you don’t mind...”

Draco and Cedric were two totally different people, everyone knew that, but if they had one thing in common, besides Harry, that would be their love for _quidditch_ , they were incredibly excited about Harry getting a _Firebolt_ , they wanted to be there when Harry tried it out for the first time, Harry had even promised them they could take a ride on it, too, if they wanted to… of course they wanted to.

“As a matter of fact, Potter, I do mind.” Snape got up. “Would it be indiscreet of me to ask you, who was generous enough to get you a _Firebolt_ for Christmas?”

“I… don’t know, sir.” Harry knew exactly where that answer would lead them to.

“You don’t know?” Snape inquired.

“The note only said that it was meant for me.” Harry said. “It didn’t say whose it from.”

“And you were just planning on flying on a broom sent by an anonymous sender?”

“Errr... yes?” Harry replied doubtfully, smelling Snape’s trap from miles away.

“There is a serial killer on the loose.” Snape said sharply. “A serial killer, who, if memory serves, has been linked to the Dark Lord, who, if once again, memory serves, has tried to kill you three times.”

“Right.” Harry nudged Draco for support but the blond was as confused as him.

“Right.” Snape repeated. “Mr. Potter, I’m gonna have to confiscate your broom.”

Snape reached for the broom but Harry held on tighter to it.

“What? No! On what chargess?” Harry asked indignantly.

“You’re not on trial, Mr. Potter.” Snape chuckled lightly. “I’ll give it back to you, I’ll just have to check for curses placed on it. Once I’m sure you’ll be safe riding on it I’ll give it back.”  
“Safe from what?” Harry inquired.

“Has it not once occurred to you, or Mr. Malfoy, or Mr. Diggory, that, perhaps, this anonymous sender could be Sirius Black wanting to finish the Dark Lord’s deed?” Snape asked very slowly.

“No, sir, I’m sorry.” Harry was too busy glaring at Snape to even bother replying at him, so Draco decided to do it for him.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, Mr. Malfoy, it’s best to be safe.” Snape said, visibly proud of his word game.

“We have a match against Ravenclaw early in the trimester.” Harry told Snape.

“I’m well aware of our House’s _quidditch_ itinerary, Mr. Potter.”

“Will the broom be ready by then?” Harry asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?!”

“Mr. Potter, you forget yourself.” Snape raised his voice. “I’m doing you a favour.”

“A favour?” Harry scoffed. “A favour to Ravenclaw perhaps, taking your own seeker’s broom.”

“Yes, a favour.” Snape almost growled at him. “I don’t know, nor I care, how much time it will take for me to make sure you’ll be safe riding this broom, but when I am, I hope you’ll leave this attitude behind and thank me properly. Now, your broom, please.”

Harry finally gave up his broom and the Potion’s professor left the room, holding with one hand his Daily Prophet copy and with the other Harry’s _Firebolt_.

“That was… intense.” Draco said.

“He’s sabotaging his own House’s quidditch team!” Harry complained.

“He has a point though.” Draco conceded. “We don’t know who sent it, and the circumstances are awfully suspicious.”

“Are you on his side?” Harry scoffed.

“I’m on your safety’s side!” Draco replied. “Wait! Where are you going?”

“Well, someone has to tell Cedric we don’t have a broom to try out anymore.” Harry replied sharply as he left the common room.

Draco could barely keep up with Harry’s strides even though he was taller, and by consequence, his legs were longer. Draco formulated a theory on their way to the _Quidditch_ Pitch: Harry’s anger fueled every step he took, it didn’t matter that he was shorter, as long as he was angry, Harry would be faster than the average human being.

When Harry and Draco arrived at the _Quidditch_ Pitch they saw Cedric sitting in the stands, and as he saw them entering, he descended to the actual pitch to greet them.

“Good morning.” He said as he walked over to them.

“Diggory.” Draco nodded.

“Harry, did something happen?” Cedric asked. “Where’s the _Firebolt_?”

“Snape happened.” Harry replied dryly.

“Oh?”

“He’s still angry.” Draco said. “Snape confiscated the _Firebolt_ , he thinks Sirius Black may have sent it.”

“Oh?”

“Diggory, stop with the ‘ _Oh’s_ ’.” Draco told him. “Long story short, Snape wants to make sure the broom hasn’t been cursed before he gives it back to Harry.”

“Well, that’s a good thing, right?” Cedric turned to Harry. “Right?”

“It would be a good thing if it wasn’t for the Ravenclaw match.” Harry replied.

“Oh.” Cedric said and Draco glared at him. “So, what do we do?”

“We could steal it from Snape’s office.” Harry suggested.

“I’ll ask again, what do we do?” Cedric dismissed him.

“Nothing.” Draco replied. “We should trust Snape will return Harry’s broom just in time for the match.”

Harry growled in response.

“And even if he doesn’t, Snape is a very skilled wizard, at least when he gives it back you’ll have the certainty that you’ll be safe when riding it.” Cedric said.

“I agree with Diggory.” Draco said. “But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Yeah, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Harry said, still frowning at the fact that Draco and Cedric agreed on something. “I’ll need to find a broom, just in case.”

“Well, forget about the school’s brooms if you intend to even breathe near the snitch.” Draco told him.

“You could use mine.” Cedric suggested. “As far as I’m concerned it’s not against the rules for you to use someone else’s broom.”

“No offense, Diggory, but you own what, a Cleansweep 5?” Draco laughed.

“I own a Comet 260, thank you very much.” Cedric glared at him. “A perfectly good broom, the same as Cho’s.”

“Merlin, you own the same broom as Cho?” Harry asked him.

“Yes?” Cedric replied, unsure of the course the conversation would take.

“Oh, I’m not judging.” Harry assured him. “I was just asking.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Great, so both Chang and Harry will be riding the same, slow broom.” Draco stated.

“It’s not slow!” Cedric protested. “Besides, not that I’m taking anyone’s side, but Harry is a very agile seeker, he’ll be fine no matter what broom he rides.”

“Thank you, Ced.” Harry patted his back. “And yeah, let’s hope Snape has my broom ready by then, but if he doesn’t I’ll be honored if you lent me yours.”

“Of course, you can have it if you need it.” Cedric assured him.

“Anyway,” Draco cut in. “Now that today’s plan is canceled, what are we going to do?”

“We could go over to Hagrid’s!” Harry suggested. “I don’t know, have some tea, maybe.”

“No offense, Harry,” Malfoy started. “But I don’t intend on willingly drink Hagrid’s tea ever again.”

“We could sit on the lake’s shore!” Cedric suggested.

“Diggory, the lake’s frozen.” Draco said. “I know you Hufflepuffs can choose to unfreeze next to some nice fire in the kitchens, however, we Slytherins sleep in the dungeons and do not possess that luxury.”

“Sorry.” Cedric muttered. “What do you propose, then?”

“I don’t know.” Draco replied after giving it some thought.

“Let’s just ask Hagrid for some blankets and head over to the lake.” Harry said. “It’s still early, if we get too cold we can go to the kitchens, warm up and have a biscuit maybe.”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Cedric glared at Draco.

“Fine.” Draco gave up. “But if I catch a cold I’m blaming you both.”

“Stop being dramatic, you won’t catch a cold.” Harry dismissed him.

They left for Hagrid’s and he was more than happy to lend them some blankets, he also offered them some tea, which Draco was the first one to refuse, and then they left for the lake, inspecting the shore in search of a nice spot.

“I think this spot will do.” Harry pointed at a soft clearing just a few steps away from the frozen surface.

Cedric nodded and with a wand movement he swept the snow away, and then, Draco and Harry put one of the blankets down over the ground. Draco, Cedric, and Harry sat in that order over the blanket and then pulled another blanket over their legs.

“You know what’s funny?” Cedric asked the two Slytherins.

“I have a feeling you’re about to tell us, whether it ends up being funny or not is irrelevant.” Draco muttered.

“Draco, shut up.” Harry glared at him. “What, Ced?”

“It’s just that these days, between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, feel very unreal.” Cedric said. “It’s like time freezes.”

“I don’t know about time,” Draco cut in. “But I’m certainly freezing.”

“Grab another blanket, then.” Harry suggested slightly annoyed.

Draco followed Harry’s advice and grabbed another blanket, which Cedric helped expand over their legs. They talked for a little while, but they eventually fell asleep, Harry in Cedric’s arms and Draco’s head leaned over the Hufflepuff’s shoulder, and when they woke up they had already missed lunch.

“Not a word about this, Diggory.” Draco threatened him. “I’m dead serious.”

Cedric rolled his eyes at him, he hadn’t even noticed, he was too busy sniffing the almond scent off Harry’s hair.

They picked up Hagrid’s blankets and walked back to the castle, they decided they would return Hagrid his blankets later in the day, they were too hungry.

The moment they arrived at the kitchens Dobby brought them a tray of biscuits, and since they had missed breakfast as well, the other house-elves brought them three glasses of warm milk and a jar of pumpkin juice.

After they were done with everything the house-elves had brought them, they thanked each and every one of them and returned to their respective common rooms with full bellies and happy faces.

Cedric is right, Harry thought, time does pass different these days.

But they had found the best way to spend it, with friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, besides the Firebolt inspection storyline, this chapter's actually pretty short and uneventful, I think, so I'm already working on the next chapter!  
> Also, I figured it was about time I developed Draco and Cedric's relationship a little bit, I don't know if they're exactly friends, but they're bound to spend some time together because of Harry, so they might as well tolerate each other, lol.  
> Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter on the comments below. :)


	17. The Patronus Charm.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Professor Lupin decides to teach Harry how to defend himself against dementors and they have a little chat afterwards regarding Harry's parents and their friend circle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the fastest I have updated since I started this, I hope it doesn't feel rushed and I hope you enjoy reading it. :)

**Chapter 17:**

**The** **_Patronus_ ** **Charm.**

Theo, Blaise, and Pansy returned to Hogwarts on the weekend before the final week of January, according to them, they had had the best Christmas Holidays ever, Ron listened very carefully to every word that came out of Blaise’s mouth as he narrated each and every part of his Holidays, which were, in fact, identical as Theo and Pansy’s.

But with the return of his friends at Hogwarts, so did the other students. To everyone in that dorm’s despair, Crabbe and Goyle had returned to Hogwarts as well. Harry knew they were all once childhood best friends, but most of them had grown apart from Crabbe and Goyle, that were still hung up on their ancient blood-ideology.

As the trimester began, so did Hermione and Draco’s urge to start studying, all of their classes had started turning more and more difficult: Snape was insufferable at them after Harry’s confrontation about his broom, Trelawney decided it was time to focus on palmistry and she took every chance she got to remind Harry that, apparently, he had a dangerously short life line.

“Perhaps is for the best, dear boy, that Professor Snape confiscated your broom.” Trelawney said very saddened as she patted Harry’s back. “We don’t want you taking unnecessary risks with a life line that short.”

Harry limited himself to awkwardly smile at the professor in response, he wondered if his confiscated broom was the hot gossip circulating the staff room. Hermione, who had appeared out of nowhere, scoffed so loudly at the woman Harry thought for a second she had actually barked at her.

As the week went by, Harry grew more and more impatient for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but when it finally arrived Harry was disappointed it was more of a theoretical class on _Grindylows_.

“Can someone tell me why are we learning about magical creatures on Defense Against the Dark Arts?” Theo whispered. “Isn’t that Hagrid’s department?”

“Hagrid’s department is teaching us how to _take care_ of them.” Blaise told him.

“Lupin’s department is teaching us how to _defend_ _ourselves_.” Neville unexpectedly cut in. “That sometimes includes teaching us how to defend ourselves against some magical creatures.”

Theo glanced in awe at Neville, who blushed.

“I couldn’t have said it better, Mr. Longbottom.” Lupin said, revealing he had an incredibly sharpened hearing. “Well done, five points for Gryffindor.” Neville blushed even harder.

After Lupin was done dictating them some key points on the _Grindylows’_ ecosystem, he decided to dismiss the class, but just as Harry was saving his quill on the back of his bag Lupin touched him on the shoulder.

“Harry, I was hoping we could talk.” Lupin smiled at him, the Holidays served him well, he looked better.

“Sure.” Harry told him as he turned to his friends. “I’ll catch up with you guys later.”

Draco gave him one last longing look before leaving the classroom with the rest of his friends.

“Alright.” Lupin started. “This is about your private lessons.”

Lupin was very hard to read, and while he seemed to be always in a good mood he was also a very serious man.

“Please don’t tell me you’re canceling them.” Harry stared at him.

“Oh, no, it’s not that.” Lupin assured him. “I was gonna ask you if you wanted to get started… right away.”

“Yes!” Harry had to restrain himself from hugging the professor. “Should I sit, or…?”

“Follow me to my office.”

Harry walked behind him as Lupin lead him upstairs, to a small circular office above the classroom.

The first thing Harry noticed about Lupin’s office was the _Grindylow_ he kept trapped in an upside fishbowl. The horned, little creature menacingly showed its teeth to Harry when he so much as glanced at it.

“Next class is gonna be a little more practical, as you can see.” Lupin told him as he pointed at the _Grindylow_ with his wand.

The second thing Harry noticed about the professor’s office was how it was arranged: Lupin had moved all of his furniture to the wall, freeing up a considerable amount of space toward the center, where he had left a mysterious-looking trunk.

“What’s that?” Harry pointed at the trunk.

“We’ll get to that later.” Lupin told him.

Lupin walked in circles a few times around the trunk before looking up at Harry again.

“What I’m gonna teach you today is very advanced defensive magic, Harry.” Lupin’s forehead wrinkled as he raised his eyebrows at Harry. “I don’t expect you to get it right on your first attempt.”

“Alright.” Harry nodded in agreement. “What is it?”

“It’s called the _Patronus_ Charm.” Lupin said. “It’s basically a positive force that acts as a shield against dementors when conjured. Take out your wand and follow my motions.”

Harry followed the professor’s order and stood beside him, imitating his wand movements.

“But that’s not it.” Lupin said, almost warning him. “In order for the _Patronus_ Charm to work, you need to focus on a single, very happy memory.”

“That doesn’t sound very hard.” Harry said.

“Believe me, it is.” Lupin used his warning tone again. “The incantation for the _Patronus_ Charm is _Expecto Patronum_.”

Lupin walked toward the trunk and squatted next to it, he pointed at the lock with his wand and glanced back to Harry.

“Whenever you’re ready.” The professor told him. “Remember to focus on a happy memory.”

“I’m ready.” Harry nodded at him.

Lupin got rid of the lock with a quick wand movement and the top of the trunk almost erupted, a dementor emerged from inside the trunk and swiftly flew towards Harry, but he froze, he knew what he had to do, but he froze.

“ _Expecto…! Expecto…!_ ” Harry knew the incantation, but the room grew colder, the dementor got closer and he couldn’t focus.

_“Lily, it’s him!” A familiar voice yelled from inside Harry’s head. “Grab Harry and leave! I’ll hold him back!”_

“ _Expecto_ …!” Harry tried again, was that his father’s voice?

“ _Not Harry, please!” His mother begged, sending shivers down Harry’s back. “Kill me instead!”_

Harry was done listening to his parents' agony, it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair he had to listen to his parents’ final moments every time a dementor got close to him when the man responsible for putting them in that situation in the first place had managed to escape from his imprisonment.

Lupin glanced at Harry, the boy was pale and his legs were shaking, but he regained composure and his knuckles almost turned white from holding his wand so tightly.

“ _Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum!_ ” Harry roared as he wielded his wand.

A silver mist emerged from the tip of his wand and it expanded in the air until it formed a shield that held the dementor back. Harry started walking toward the trunk, he trapped the dementor between the shield and the trunk making it retreat back into the trunk’s insides. Lupin almost sat on the trunks’ top to prevent it from opening once Harry managed to trap it.

Harry took a deep breath as the silver shield disappeared before him. The last thing he saw before blacking out was Lupin securing the lock.

“Harry?” Lupin’s voice echoed in his head. “Harry, are you alright?”

“How long have I been out?” He mumbled as he got up.

“Just a few minutes.” Lupin replied. “Here, eat the full bar or Madam Pomfrey will have my head.”

Lupin offered him a chocolate bar, which Harry quickly shove inside his mouth. Chocolate reminded him of Cedric, for some reason the Hufflepuff always smelled of chocolate, Harry wondered if it was because of lotion or because of his closeness to the kitchens.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Lupin asked him again.

“Yes, I’m alright.” Harry sighed. “A bit dizzy, that’s it.”

“Harry, you did it!” The professor congratulated him. “And on your first try, too!”

Harry was speechless, he just smiled at the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

“I’m very proud of you.” Lupin told him with a warm smile on his face. “But I’m curious, what memory did you use?”

“It’s not exactly a memory.” Harry said. “I thought of my parents.”

“Your parents?” Lupin leaned in, clearly intrigued.

“At the end of my first year at Hogwarts, just before I hopped on the train back to London,” Harry began explaining. “Hagrid gifted me a photo album, it was full of family photos… now that I think about it, you’re in a couple of them.”

“Am I?” Lupin chuckled hiding his surprise.

“ _He_ is, too.” Harry said ominously.

Somehow, Lupin knew exactly who Harry meant by “ _him_ ”, and his heart skipped a beat.

“Sirius Black.” Harry made sure to enunciate every letter in that name with hate on his voice. “You knew him, didn’t you? You were friends back then.”

“We were all friends back then, Harry.” Lupin said, melancholic. “Sirius, Peter, James, Lily, and me.”

“And he betrayed you.” Harry mumbled. “He betrayed all of you.”

“I don’t know for certain what happened that night, Harry.” Lupin sighed. “I just know that tragedy struck and we all paid a very high price.”

Lupin was hard to read indeed, but not this time. At that moment, Remus Lupin was, without a doubt in his mind, the most saddened man Harry had ever seen.

“Can I see them one day, Harry, please?” Lupin glanced at him. “The photos, I mean.”

“Sure thing.” Harry smiled at him in hopes he would smile back.

“They would be so proud of you.” Lupin assured him. “You’re so much like them.”

“Am I?” Harry’s eyes shined. “I’m a Slytherin.”

“And that would’ve certainly caught them by surprise, James especially.” Lupin laughed. “But that doesn’t change a thing, you’re an extraordinary boy, gentle, an empath, like your mother, and clever, with a surprising knack for getting in trouble, like your father.”

“McGonagall has told me some stories.” Harry smiled.

“Oh, Minnie.” Lupin exhaled. “She had to put up with all of us, poor woman.”

Harry and Lupin sat in silence for a minute, both wanting to say more, but not quite knowing what to say.

“I heard his voice for the first time, today.” Harry said. “My father’s, as I repelled the dementor.”

“The _boggart_ , Harry.” Lupin corrected him. “It was a _boggart_.”

“Really? It felt awfully real.”

“Well, that’s because _boggarts_ can imitate some of the qualities of the things they turned into.” Lupin explained. “Anyway, you heard your father? What did he say?”

“He told my mother to grab me and leave.” Harry described it. “Voldemort had just arrived and he said he would hold him off.”

“I’m sorry, Harry.”

“It’s alright.” Harry nodded. “I can defend myself now, thanks to you.”

“I think I’ve held you up long enough.” Lupin said as he got up. “You should go see if you can still grab some lunch.”

“Right.” Harry started walking toward the door. “Thank you, professor, really.”

Harry thought of going to the Great Hall, or maybe the kitchens, to grab some food but he was actually more exhausted than he was hungry, so he made his way back to the common room, but the second he got inside he felt as if someone was watching him.

“Mr. Potter.” Snape greeted him, emerging from the shadows, making his usual dramatic entrance. “I tried to find you at the Great Hall, I failed, of course.”

“Yeah, I had some catching up to do with some Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons.” Harry explained.

“Is that so?” Snape raised an eyebrow. “It was my understanding that you over-compensated in Defense Against the Dark Arts for the talent you lacked in Potions.”

“One must not believe everything one listens.” Harry replied dryly.

“I suppose so.”

Snape was suddenly handing him back the _Firebolt_ , Harry was sure Snape rejoiced in appearing mysterious since he hadn’t noticed the professor was holding the broom at any moment throughout their conversation.

“Here.” Snape almost dropped the broom on him. “I’ve checked for curses with the help of professors Lupin and Flitwick and we’ve all concluded that it is safe for you to ride it.”

“Really?” Harry wanted to hop on the broom right there and then.

“Yes, Potter, really.” Snape rolled his eyes.

“Professor, I wanted to apologize to you.”

“I’m listening.”

“When you took my broom over the Holidays I was upset- “

“Yes, that was very clear, Potter.” Snape cut in.

“And I did forget myself.” Harry admitted. “You’re the Head of my House, and I respect you, I see now that you’re intentions were good and I overreacted, I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted.” Snape replied smugly. “Now go lay down, whatever lesson you were taking has you looking awfully exhausted.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that in both the book and movie it takes a little more time for Harry to cast his patronus, but I really wanted Lupin and Harry to have that conversation.  
> Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter on the comments below! 
> 
> P.S. I know the way I write dialogues can seem a little repetitive sometimes, but I'm working on it. English is not my first language but I've been reading more content in this language to improve my writing (please feel free to point out any mistake and I'll do my best to correct it), a boy is trying! :D


	18. The Quidditch Pitch's Impostors.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry puts the Patronus Charm to good use as some odd-looking dementors interfere when he and Cho find themselves racing against eachother to catch the snitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really, really hope you enjoy reading this as much as much as I enjoyed writing it.
> 
> P. S. I never thought I would say this, but I really like writing these Quidditch sequences, I thought I would find them annoying since I'd sometimes skim through them in the books, but I caught myself rather enjoying writing them, I hope you like them too!

**Chapter 18:**

**The _Quidditch_ Pitch’s Impostors.**

There was no one more excited than Marcus Flint over the fact that Harry had gotten back his _Firebolt_ just in time for their match against Ravenclaw, Harry didn’t want to take anything for granted, especially since he had not found time to practice on his new broom, but Flint’s bragging could be heard across the Great Hall judging by Cho’s expression.

“We’re obviously gonna win!” Cassius Warrington said and the rest of the Slytherin table cheered.

“Warrington, shut up, we don’t know that.” Harry grunted as he glanced over to Ravenclaw’s table. “Cho is a very agile seeker from what I heard.”

“Oh, come on, Harry, stop with the modesty!” Flint patted his back. “This is our chance to recover from our humiliating defeat against Hufflepuff! If we win this match we have an actual chance at winning the Cup!”

“Humiliating defeat?” Cedric asked Harry over the cheering. “Dementors attacked you in the middle of the match and that’s how your captain addresses it?”

“Cedric! How long have you been there?” Harry greeted him.

“A while, I’ve been trying to get to you but I couldn’t even hear myself speaking!.” He replied. “Nor the other tables, apparently.”

“I’m sorry about that.” Harry said in embarrassment. “Flint woke up overconfident this morning.”

“And with good reason.” Cedric winked at him. “You got back your _Firebolt_.”

“I did!” Harry replied cheerily. “I’m still a little worried, though. I haven’t really found time to warm up to it.”

“I’m sure you’ll do well.” Cedric said. “I’m just a little sad you won’t be riding my broom after all.”

“Getting teary-eyed, Diggory?” Draco turned to them.

“Getting sleepy, Malfoy?” Cedric teased him. “My shoulder sure looks comfortable, don’t you think?”

“You promised you wouldn’t say a word!” Malfoy shushed him.

Cedric stared directly into the blond’s eyes with a smug smile on his face.

“Did I miss something?” Harry asked awkwardly.

“Oh, it’s nothing, just an inside joke, right, Draco?” Cedric glared at him. “Anyway, I just wanted to wish you good luck before the match, Harry, although I’m sure you won’t need it.”

“Thank you, Ced.” Harry smiled at him. “See you after the match?”

“Sure thing.”

Both teams flew in formation over the center of the _Quidditch_ Pitch, Harry held his broom tightly, careful of over-speeding. The players formed a circle as Madam Hooch whistled and released the balls, Harry gave Cho one last look and she grinned at him before flying away: the match had begun.

Harry could hear Lee Jordan’s commentary ringing in his ears, both teams were scoring back, which was good, they needed to score as many points as possible before Harry caught the snitch if they wanted a chance at snatching the Cup from Gryffindor.

He flew higher, his hands, dry, almost cracked, felt perpetually frozen around the broomstick, he gave the crowd a quick glance and saw, and heard, Draco coordinating the Slytherin truncheon, Harry blushed and prompted himself to start looking more decisively for the golden snitch.

The players looked more like green and blue blurs as Harry crossed the pitch towards Cho, he was sure she had spotted the snitch since she had shot herself, almost vertically, into the sky.

Harry took a deep breath before pulling his broom upwards swiftly, following Cho’s trail. Up until then, he had underestimated just how fast his _Firebolt_ truly was, Lee Jordan’s commentary had faded away, being replaced by the wind aggressively whistling in his ears. With each passing second, Harry flew closer to Cho, until suddenly, he had reached her. They were flying shoulder to shoulder, the snitch was just a few meters away from where they were currently flying, Cho pursed her lips as she accelerated but Harry quickly passed her.

The weather was cold since spring was still a few weeks away, but as Harry flew higher, it became even colder. He reached with his hand, he was getting closer to catching the snitch when suddenly Cho called his name. In other circumstances he wouldn’t have bothered to look down at her, they were in the middle of a competition, but there was an unmistakable panic in her voice that made him change his mind.

“Harry!” Cho called him again, she looked worried. “Dementors! Behind you!”

Harry looked back and saw some weird-looking dementors flying toward him, when he turned to the snitch it had already changed its course, Harry forced himself to fly down after her, almost in a dive.

He caught a glimpse of the dementors behind him as he continued his chase behind the snitch, he frowned, dementors would not snatch victory from him again, he thought to himself as he reached for his wand from inside his robe.

“ _Expecto Patronum!_ ” Harry yelled as he pointed at them with his wand.

A silver shield appeared between them and the dementors slowed down, looking almost surprised, Harry had no time to wonder, but he thought those particular odd-looking dementors had very human reactions.

He focused on the snitch again, both he and Cho had left the dementors behind as the silver mist from Harry’s wand dissipated in the air. The snitch was fluttering just in front of him, all he had to do was reach, and when he did, after securing himself on the broom with his other hand, he caught it, followed by Madam Hooch’s whistling as she declared the end of the game, Slytherin had won.

As he descended, he witnessed how Draco and the rest of their Slytherin friends invaded the _Quidditch_ Pitch.

“You did it!” Draco cheered as he ran towards him.

“I did it!” Harry cheered back as he jumped from his broom and into his best friend’s arms.

He knew Draco was happy about the Slytherin team winning over Ravenclaw, but Harry was even happier, proud even, about repelling those dementors off mid-air, he wondered if professor Lupin had seen him.

“Harry! Are you alright?” Cedric ran toward them. “I didn’t know you knew how to cast the _Patronus_ Charm!”

“Neither did I, but that was awesome!” Draco added. “But I wonder if something was the matter with those dementors, something was off about their behaviour.”

“That’s because those weren’t dementors.” They had heard Snape said behind them, bitterly.

They turned to the professor and gasped at the view, Snape was dragging Crabbe and Goyle from the neck of the abnormally large dark robes they were wearing, their brooms laid there on the ground.

“Sabotaging your own House’s team like petty children, unbelievable!” Snape roared. “You two will have detention from this day until the end of the school year, you can be sure of that!”

Draco dedicated a smug smile at Crabbe and Goyle as they abandoned the _Quidditch_ Pitch with their heads down.

“They have earned some points taken off from them, surely, Professor?” Madam Hooch inquired. “Those two boys have demonstrated an incredibly low, pathetic behaviour.”

“Certainly.” Snape gritted his teeth. “Twenty points will be taken from each of them.”

As the rest of the team descended over the pitch, Snape, who was about to take an exit, turned to them.

“Impressive performance, Potter.” Snape grinned. “Congratulations all of you!”

“I never would have taken Snape for a _Quidditch_ fan.” Cedric whispered.

“He’s not.” Draco turned to him. “He's just incredibly competitive when it comes to facing the other Houses.”

“Impressive.” Cedric said. “But not as impressive as Harry’s performance.”

“About that.” Cho said as she walked toward them. “Congratulations, Harry.”

The Ravenclaw girl offered Harry her hand and he gladly shook it, Cho gave him a sad smile before walking away.

Blaise and Theo’s arms were around Harry’s shoulders as they made their back to the castle for lunch, they were all cheering for the Slytherin team’s victory, and even Ron, who rarely cheered for anyone else besides the Chudley Cannons or the Gryffindor _Quidditch_ team, was remarkably happy.

Just as they were about to cross the wooden bridge on their way back to the castle, Harry heard some barking, he assumed for a moment it was Fang, Hagrid’s dog, and that he had maybe chewed his leash into freedom again, but the barking was different, less deep. Harry turned his head and he found the black dog from the other day roaming around the stone circle, wagging his tail excitedly from one side to the other, barking incessantly, almost as if he was joining the crowd’s cheering, he didn’t look nearly as intimidating as he did the other day. Harry almost didn’t realize, but he gave the dog a faint smile before turning back to his friends’ victory chanting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sirius Black got me in my feelings lately.  
> If everything goes as planned, I'll be finally adressing a major plot point on the next chapter, stay tuned, lol.  
> Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter on the comments below!


	19. A dead man walking.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a victory party in the Slytherin common room goes out of control, Harry takes one of their guests back to his own common room and notices a familiar name appearing on the Marauder's Map.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Underage drinking.   
> Before you read, you should know the excessive consumption of a mild alcoholic beverage, in this case butterbeer, by underage main characters plays a huge part on at least half of this chapter, so if you're uncomfortable with this plot, I advise you to skip your reading all the way down to this paragraph:  
> "Harry checked the map before even thinking of leaving the Hufflepuff Basement, it seemed like Snape and Lupin were rounding in the third and fifth floor respectively so Harry left and climbed the stairs all the way to the Entrance Hall’s floor to, only then, figure out the safest route back to his common room."

**Chapter 19:**

**A dead man walking.**

After two years, most Slytherins were used to Ron and Hermione’s presence in their common room during their victory parties. It was well known how Harry and Draco, with numerous contributions from Pansy’s part, had, almost single-handedly, managed to get most of Slytherin’s student body to overcome their blood prejudice. There were some exceptions, of course, like Crabbe and Goyle, people who wouldn’t accept, nor care, that they now lived in a more accepting, civilized century, but then again, most people didn’t really care about Crabbe and Goyle.

It was Cedric Diggory’s presence, however, the one the Slytherins were now struggling to get used to at that particular victory party. Harry had invited him, of course. The Slytherins weren’t oblivious to his and Diggory’s friendship, no one with half a brain in that castle was. It’s not that they were prejudiced against Hufflepuffs, quite the contrary, Hufflepuffs and Slytherins had quite the amicable history, they just thought that Cedric Diggory in particular, wouldn’t manage to blend in with their way of partying, but they were proven wrong when he helped Marcus Flint sneak a monstrous amount of butterbeer, undetected, inside the common room. The butterbeer was actually from Flint’s boyfriend, Oliver Wood, private reserve. The so-called “reserve” wasn’t nothing more than a few crates of butterbeer disguised as a couple of Zonko’s boxes tucked under his bed, hidden behind Wood’s trunk, but it had a legendary reputation amongst students from all Houses.

Harry knew Cedric was quite the popular guy, he was tall, charming, clever, athletic, and handsome, of course he was popular, and Harry wasn’t oblivious nor deaf, whenever he went somewhere with Cedric by his side sighs of admiration would follow them as they walked, and Harry was sure it wasn’t him, short, wild-haired, and sassy, who caused them, it was Cedric, with his lovely smile and the squinting in his eyes as he laughed. But up until then, Harry had never realized the reason behind Cedric’s popularity, it wasn’t all about his looks or his wit, though they surely contributed, it was because of how easily he blended in (joke’s on the Slytherin’s who once doubted him), how easily he made people love him, how easily he made friends. Harry didn’t realize this when Cedric helped Flint sneak in the butterbeer, that helpful, almost complicit behaviour, was to be expected from him, Harry realized this when he noticed that, in a matter of minutes, Cedric had not only organized a butterbeer drinking contest, but was actually leading said competition.

Butterbeer had very little alcohol content, of course, that was why students were allowed to drink it even in the castle’s premises, unlike firewhiskey. Butterbeer was also very sweet, and people would grow tired of its flavour after a few cups, and, after a few bottles, which had certainly been consumed during the drinking contest, one would become slightly, just slightly tipsy.

“Wood’s gonna be fuming when he finds out Diggory wiped out his sacred stock of butterbeer.” Draco slurred his words.

“Judging from your breath, I don’t think Cedric managed to do that alone.” Harry raised an eyebrow and Draco giggled in response.

“I think I like him better when tipsy.” Draco hunched to rest his forehead on Harry’s shoulder.

“When he’s tipsy or when you are?” Harry laughed.

“Does it matter?” Draco slurred. “When is he leaving anyway? Weasley and Granger already left.”

“I know, perhaps is time I escort him back to his common room.” Harry muttered.

“What? No! Don’t leave!” Draco whimpered looking up at him.

“Draco, he’s not precisely sober.” Harry replied

“And? Neither am I!” Draco frowned in confusion.

“Precisely, it’s about time you went to bed.” Harry suggested. “Come on, I’ll take you, I need to get something anyway.”

Harry grabbed Draco’s hand and led him to the dorm room.

“Can you put your pajamas on or…?” Harry offered,

“I can do it.” Draco nodded. “Turn around, please.”

“Alright.”

Harry turned his back on Draco and started looking for the Invisibility Cloak as he listened to the blond struggling to get his pajamas on, when he finally found the Cloak, he glanced at his bedside table, after the conversation he and Cedric had as they walked in the dungeons in Christmas Day, Harry followed Cedric’s actions and put his framed copy of the photo Mrs. Diggory had taken on them on top of his bedside table, just as Cedric told him he had done.

Both Harry and Cedric had shy smiles on that picture, if someone saw it they wouldn’t have guessed how close Harry and Cedric would become later on. Harry was glad they did.

“You can look now.” Draco announced cheerily.

Harry turned around and found Draco already in bed, tucking himself in.

“Brilliant.” Harry congratulated him.

“You were brilliant today, Harry.” Draco sighed.

“Was I?”

“In the match, I mean.” He cleared his throat. “Managing to keep the dementors in line while racing for the snitch, what a talented, talented boy you are.”

“Thank you, Draco, but I think it’s time for you to- ”

“And I didn’t even know you could that!” He went on. “The _Patronus_ Charm!”

“Ahh, yeah, Lupin taught me a few days ago.” Harry said quietly, hoping Draco would close his eyes soon.

“That’s good, you know?” Draco nodded. “Really, really good.”

“Why’s it so good?” Harry chuckled.

“Well, you can repel them now.” Draco said. “I should learn it, too. The _Patronus_ Charm.”

“I could teach you, some other day, of course.” Harry offered.

“I’d like that.” Draco’s eyes almost disappeared as he smiled from ear to ear. “It’d be really useful.”

“Really? How so?” Harry inquired.

“That way, I would be able to protect you.” Draco slurred. “Those dementors can have your first kiss over my cold, dead body.”

“Wh- why would I kiss a dementor?” Harry asked, genuinely intrigued.

“Pfff, I sometimes forget you were raised by _muggles_.” Draco replied.

“Right.” Harry said. “Goodnight.”

“Aren’t you gonna kiss me goodnight?” Draco asked him as Harry turned off the lights.

“Goodnight, Draco.” Harry chuckled.

“You’re not?!” The blond gasped.

“Fine.” Harry caved in.

The brunette walked up to him and kissed his forehead, only to start walking away afterward. He made sure to grab the Marauder’s Map before leaving.

“Happy?” Harry asked as he turned the door’s handle.

“Very.” Draco replied. “Goodnight, Potter.”

“Goodnight, Malfoy.”

Harry closed the door behind him and as he walked back to the common room he realized they had turned the music off, but the party was far from over, people were talking on the floor or sleeping on the sofas. Cedric was having a very animated conversation with Cassius Warrington next to the fireplace.

“Ah, Harry!” Cedric greeted him. “Here for a rematch? I think Flint has some more butterbeer stocked in the back.”

“Cedric, we already had a rematch.” Harry told him. “Three hours ago.”

“Really?” Cedric asked in confusion. “I don’t remember.”

“I’m not surprised.” Harry chuckled. “Cassius, do you mind?” Harry asked as he grabbed Cedric’s arm, slowly dragging him away.

“Not at all.” The Slytherin slurred.

“It was nice talking to you, Warrington!” Cedric said his goodbyes.

Harry dragged him outside of the common room while Cedric gazed at his surroundings in awe.

“I think I’m beginning to like the dungeons, even at night.” Cedric muttered. “Wait, what are you doing?”

“Get in.” Harry held the Cloak up for him. “Come on.”

“I didn’t know you had an Invisibility Cloak.” Cedric told him as he covered himself with it, next to Harry.

“Yes, you did.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.” Harry insisted. “I told you.”

“Yeah, I think you did.” He lied.

“ _Lumos_.” Harry’s wand lit up under the Cloak. “Let’s take you to your common room, shall we?”

Cedric nodded in response.

The Invisibility Cloak basically hung from Cedric’s head as he was way taller than Harry, he wondered if their feet were peeking from under the Cloak as they walked.

“ _I solemnly swear that I’m up to no good_.” Harry whispered as he reached for the map, which subsequently unfolded in his hand.

“Whoah! What’s that?” Cedric asked.

“Cedric!” Harry shushed him. “A secret, that’s what it is.

“Sorry.”

Harry checked the map as they walked, a drunken prefect would certainly not save him from trouble that night, he had to take extra precautions, check if any of the professors were rounding about.

“I love it when you concentrate.” Cedric slurred his words. “You look very pretty.”

“Pretty?” Harry scoffed. “I think pretty is the last word that comes to mind when I look in the mirror.”

“What are you talking about?” Cedric said indignantly. “ _You are_. Very, very pretty.”

“Well, thank you, Ced.” Harry blushed and thanked the heavens Cedric was walking behind him and couldn’t really see his face. “You’re very pretty yourself.”

“You really think so?” The Hufflepuff almost gasped.

“Cedric,” Harry whispered, reminding him he had to lower his voice. “You don’t need me to tell you you’re pretty, you are. Everyone thinks so.”

“But I don’t care about everyone!” The older boy whimpered. “I only care about _you_.”

God, Harry thought, what was the matter with tipsy boys and whimpering? It was only butterbeer, for Merlin’s beard.

“Do you?” Harry inquired, amused.

“Yes, more than you can imagine.” Cedric exhaled.

He reeked of alcohol. How many cups did he even have? Harry wondered, It was butterbeer! How many butterbeer can one person drink for their breath to reek of alcohol?

“Harry,” Cedric called. “I need to tell you something.”

“Don’t.” Harry replied without looking up from the map.

“Wh- Why?”

“Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say if you hadn’t chugged an unknown amount of butterbeer.” Harry replied swiftly.

“Oh.” Cedric hiccuped. “I guess you’re right.”

“I know I am.”

“But,” Cedric went on. “You do think I’m pretty, right?”

“Ced…”

“I don’t care what everyone else thinks.” Cedric frowned. “I only care about what you think.”

“Yes, Cedric,” Harry caved in, sighing. “I do think you’re pretty. Now, hunch down, our feet are showing.”

“Right, sorry.”

Harry and Cedric made it out of the dungeons just fine. According to the map, the only professors making rounds that night were Snape and Lupin, and they were both rounding by the Great Staircase, so Harry had to make sure Cedric was extra-quiet as they descended through the Great Staircase on their way to the kitchens.

“Can you make your way from here?” Harry asked taking the Invisibility Cloak off from their heads. “Do you remember the password to the common room?”

“Yes, and yes.” Cedric nodded. “Thank you for taking me here, and sorry for the inconvenience.”

“Nonsense, I had to make sure you arrived alright.” Harry dismissed him. “I need you to promise me two things, however.”

“Sure.”

“First, promise me you’ll leave behind your days of headlining butterbeer drinking contests after tonight?” Harry offered him his pinky.

“I’ll miss them terribly, but yes, I promise.” Cedric tangled his pinky with Harry’s. “And the second thing is?”

“Promise me you won’t pass out the second you enter your common room.” Harry asked, dead serious.

“Harry, of course I won’t. It’s only butterbeer!” Cedric giggled. “Sure, my tongue is a little loose, I may be a little tipsy but that’s about it. I don’t even think one can get hungover on butterbeer.”

“Well, for your sake I hope not, or Celine will be hearing from me.” Harry threatened him.

“Will you be owling my mother?” Cedric scoffed.

“Not if you behave, no.” Harry raised an eyebrow. “Goodnight, Diggory.”

“Goodnight, _Potter_.” Cedric smiled at him one last time before clumsily walking away to his common room.

Harry checked the map before even thinking of leaving the Hufflepuff Basement, it seemed like Snape and Lupin were rounding in the third and fifth floor respectively so Harry left and climbed the stairs all the way to the Entrance Hall’s floor to, only then, figure out the safest route back to his common room.

Just as he meant to leave the Entrance Hall, checking out for Lupin and Snape’s dots in the Marauder’s Map, a new dot appeared that made Harry’s stomach churn: according to the map, Peter Pettigrew had just left the Gryffindor common room and was rushing down the Great Staircase.

Harry froze for a second, he knew it couldn’t be a ghost, how come he had never seen him before? What business could Peter Pettigrew’s remains possibly have in the Gryffindor common room? He cast _Lumos_ and, after taking a deep breath, he walked back over the Great Staircase.

Pettigrew moved fast, Harry had seen his dot rush down the previous floors, and as he seemed to arrive at the Entrance Hall’s floor, he braced himself for the worst. He expected to see, if not a ghost, some kind of specter, a gross sort of reanimated body, perhaps, but Peter Pettigrew’s dot had just brushed past his own and Harry didn’t see a thing.

“POTTER!” Someone barked behind him as he looked for Pettigrew around him.

With all the fuss, Harry had forgotten to put the Cloak back on after dropping Cedric off at his common room, hell, he had even forgotten to watch out for Lupin and Snape as he searched for what could very well be a mistake, a glitch, from the Map’s part.

“ _Mischief managed_.” Harry whispered as he tried to bury the piece of parchment deep inside one of his pockets.

He turned his back only to find Snape aggressively exhaling on his face.

“Professor.” Harry greeted, knowing it would get him into trouble.

“ _Professor_.” Snape mocked, fuming. “I demand to know the reason why you felt the need to leave your common room in the dead of night. Visiting a friend, perhaps?”

“It was nothing of the sort.” Harry shrugged it off. “I just had a really bad craving, and I know for a fact house-elves leave biscuits in the kitchens’ table before retiring for the night, I’m sorry.”

“Let’s suppose that’s a valid excuse, and since we’re feeling risky tonight, let’s suppose I believe you.” Snape spat. “The kitchens are out of bounds, Potter.”

“Oh, well, no one told me that.” Those were about the only honest words that had left Harry’s mouth in their entire conversation.

“Besides, I don’t see you carrying any biscuits.” The Potions professor sneered.

“Oh, that’s because I already- ”

“Ate them? How convenient.” Snape didn’t like to have a go against his own House’s students, but Harry didn’t tend to make it easy on him. “Empty your pockets. Now.”

“Oh… Alright.” Harry panicked for a moment, on one pocket he had the Cloak, his father’s Cloak, and that would get to Snape’s hands over his dead body. On the other pocket, Harry had the map, disguised as a piece of parchment, it was an easy choice, or so he thought.

“A piece of parchment?” Snape snatched it from his hands.

“Severus, what do we have here?” Lupin said, cutting in, he must have heard Snape’s fuss from whatever floor he was in.

“Lupin.” Snape greeted him coldly. “Mr. Potter here seems to have forgotten just how dangerous it is to take a walk under the moonlight, besides forbidden for the student body, of course.”

“And is that old piece of parchment a crucial piece in the puzzle that is Mr. Potter’s illicit overnight activities?” Lupin questioned him.

“You arrived just in time, we’re about to find about.” Snape replied as he touched the parchment with the tip of his wand. “Reveal. Your. Secrets.”

Since he was shorter than him, Harry couldn’t really make out what had appeared on the parchment's surface, but it mustn't have been really nice judging by Snape’s expression.

“Care to read it out loud, Severus? I can’t really make out the words from here.” Lupin suggested, grinning.

“Read it for us, will you, Potter?” Snape shoved the parchment to his face.

“Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape and begs him to keep his,” Harry cleared his throat. “Abnormally large nose out of other people’s business.”

“You little- “

“I believe there’s more, Harry, would you keep reading?” Lupin said.

“Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git.” Harry read out loud, restraining himself from laughing. “Professor, I- “

“Keep. Reading.” Snape ordered.

“Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a professor,” Harry obliged to Snape’s wishes and kept reading. “Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slime-ball.”

“I’m waiting for an explanation, Potter.” Snape said coldly.

“Err… well,” Harry starting thinking of an excuse. “It was a gift from Draco’s first Hogsmeade visit, from _Zonko’s_ , I believe.”

“I’m surprised, do you always carry around Mr. Malfoy’s presents? How romantic.” Snape told him, fury red. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you. Lupin, what do you think? This _object_ sure looks plagued with Dark Arts, your area of expertise, I believe.”

“You really think so?” Lupin snatched the parchment from his hands. “I can check for curses, of course, just like I did with Harry’s broom the other day.”

“Lupin- “ Snape started.

“Come, Harry, let’s discuss your punishment in my office.” Lupin grabbed Harry’s shoulder.

Harry followed Lupin to his office before another word escaped Snape’s mouth, but he could tell the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor wasn’t precisely happy either.

They silently made their way to the North Tower, Lupin’s wand flickered with light which, to Harry’s perspective, made the scars on the professor’s face look deeper than usual. When they arrived in the classroom, Lupin continued walking all the way up to his office, in which he waited for Harry, who purposefully started walking slower in order to think of what to say to him.

“What in Merlin’s name were you doing prowling at night?” Lupin inquired as soon as Harry made his way through the door. “And, is that alcohol I smell?”

“Oh, no, it’s not me.” Harry replied swiftly. “We were celebrating and someone accidentally dropped some butterbeer on me.”

“You still haven’t responded to my first question, Harry.” Lupin’s stare made him fill with guilt for some reason. “Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be prowling at night when there’s a serial killer on the loose?”

“I do, I’m sorr- ”

“No, Harry, I don’t think you do.” Lupin cut in. “Your parents gave up their lives so you could live, and you’re risking yourself for no apparent, valid reason. If the Prophet is to be believed, you’re the reason Sirius Black broke inside the castle before the Holidays.”

“I’m sorry, professor.” Harry stared at his feet in shame.

“And don’t think for a moment I don’t know what this is.” Lupin flashed the piece of parchment on his face.

“Y-you do?” Harry’s face lit up in wonder.

“It’s a map, but I think you already knew that.” Lupin said. “A map, that on the wrong hands, would trick you into believing you’re well within your right to explore the castle at night, which you’re not, I might add.”

“But how do you know what is it? Professor Snape had no clue.” Harry asked, risking falling out of Lupin’s good graces.

“I knew the people that created it.” Lupin said with a tint of sadness in his voice. “Troublemakers, and I don’t want you to follow in their steps, Harry, not with everything that’s going on, not with everything you’ve already been through.”

“I won’t, Professor, and I’m sorry.”

“You should know I’m keeping this, for the foreseeable future at least.” Lupin folded the parchment and placed it on his desk. “Now go directly to your common room, and if you take any liberties I’ll know.”

Harry nodded and started making his back to the door.

“Professor, last time we spoke you said you were friends with Peter Pettigrew.” Harry said.

“I was.”

“I saw him earlier.” Harry said and Lupin’s eyes almost popped out. “His name, on the map I mean.”

“That’s impossible, the map does not show dead people.” Lupin frowned.

“Well, perhaps the map is wrong.” Harry said. “A glitch, maybe?”

“No, that can’t be.” Lupin dismissed him. “Are you sure you saw him?”

“His name, yes.” Harry clarified again. “He was rushing down the Great Staircase, it looked as if he had just left the Gryffindor common room.”

“I see.” Lupin muttered. “Go to bed, Harry.”

“Goodnight, professor.”

“Before you leave, Harry, I must warn you, I won’t ever cover for you again, that was very reckless of you.” Lupin warned him. “Now leave, and be careful.”

Harry quietly made his way back to his common room, he figured that if he ran into another professor they wouldn’t be as merciful as Lupin, who had apparently forgotten to discuss the punishment he had taken him to his office for in the first place.

Just as he reached the portrait hallway that led to the common room, Harry gave them a quick look, they were still torn, and shivers ran down his spine. He dreamed of Peter Pettigrew that night, it wasn’t a pleasant dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm well aware it took me a while to write this chapter, and I'm sorry for that. The reason for this delay was that I wasn't entirely sold on the whole drunk on butterbeer messy affair since all of the main characters, I think, are underage. I actually did some research on the matter, and apparently students are, in fact, allowed to drink butterbeer in the castle's premises, underage or not.  
> I figured that since they're teenagers, in a boarding school, things like this are most likely bound to happen, especially in celebrations after a sports event. I, however, do not intend to glamorize the abuse of alcoholic beverages, especially when it comes to underage people, fictional or not, that was not this chapter's intention and I deeply apologize if the plot triggered you in any way.  
> You should also know that one of Draco's lines in this chapter (“Those dementors can have your first kiss over my cold, dead body.”, especifically) is inspired by the caption under one of @kasjophe's (they gave me their permission to use that line) amazing artworks, you should really check them out! This is the link to the one that inspired that line: https://kasjophe.tumblr.com/post/630543940199809024/if-it-isnt-pottah-my-day-is-going-great  
> That's everything for now, I sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter, please let me know your thoughts on it on the comments below.


	20. A tea party before Easter.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and his friends plan a little something for Ron's birthday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay, I've been feeling a little down lately and it literally took me days to complete this chapter, but I'm feeling better now.   
> I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Chapter 20:**

**A tea party before Easter.**

Ron’s birthday would have almost passed overlooked if it weren’t for Blaise’s constant nagging about what were they, as a group, going to get him as a present. Draco thought something expensive would do the trick, Harry thought of getting him something Chudley Cannons related, merch perhaps, and Theo thought of throwing him a party, while Hermione, Pansy, and Cedric, who was now spending more time with them now, sat on the sidelines, enjoying how Blaise elegantly dismissed each and every one of the boys’ proposals.

“For the last time, Draco,” Blaise was losing his patience. “Even though he might like them, Ron just doesn’t really care about expensive presents!”

“Blaise is right,” Hermione added, finally joining the conversation. “He may be amazed by expensive things from time to time, as we all are bound to do, but I don’t really think Ron rings the materialistic bell.”

“Thank you!” Blaise exhaled loudly.

“She’s a poet now?” Draco scoffed at Hermione.

“One way or the other, we need to figure out what we’re gonna get him and we need to do it now.” Pansy intervened. “I think he’s starting to catch up on these meetings of ours.”

“Of course he is!” Theo said. “If all my friends mysteriously disappeared simultaneously, for days now, I would start suspecting something’s up too.”

“Well, if he really isn’t that drawn by things, why don’t we reconsider Theo’s idea?” Cedric cut in. “Let’s throw him a party.”

“It’s a nice idea.” Blaise finally caved in. “But I think we still need to give him something.”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll think of something, but for now, this party,” Draco dismissed him. “I need the hows, the wheres, and the whens.”

“I didn’t know you were an event planner, Draco.” Cedric teased.

“ _Certified_ event planner,” Harry added, chuckling. “Not just some mundane party thrower.”

“Quite right.” Draco nodded proudly. “There’s plenty of things you don’t know about me, Diggory.”

“Moving on!” Blaise said.

“Right, the hows, the wheres, and the whens,” Draco said. “Any ideas?”

“The kitchens?” Theo suggested.

“Out of bounds.” Harry mimicked Snape. “Besides, we’re not exactly a small group us alone, we’ll be an even less small group when Ron’s siblings join us, we would get caught in the kitchens.”

“My common room?” Cedric offered.

“I’ll be caught in that godforsaken common room over my dead body,” Draco replied.

“Said the one that sleeps in the dungeons.” Cedric teased.

“The dungeons are quite comfortable, thank you very much.” Blaise replied coldly.

“Why don’t we do it in your common room, then?” Cedric inquired.

“Oh, no, that won’t do.” Harry was quick to dismiss him.

“Care to explain why?” Cedric was getting frustrated.

“Snape wasn’t exactly happy about the common room’s state after the victory party.” Theo explained.

“The Gryffindor common room, then.” Pansy said.

“That won’t do either.” Hermione replied.

“Care to explain why?” Cedric asked again, frustrated indeed.

“He’d find out.” Hermione replied. “And this is supposed to be a surprise party, right?”

“Right.” Blaise nodded. “Where can we do it then?”

“Hagrid’s?” Harry suggested, not that convinced himself.

“Excellent idea!” Blaise said.

“Is it?” Harry asked surprised.

“Yeah, is it really?” Draco asked, skeptically.

“Yes, really!” Blaise nodded excitedly. “Do you think he’d agree?”

“I’m sure Hagrid would love that.” Harry replied. “But Hagrid’s Hut is very small and we’re too many, it would be a disaster!”

“An outdoor party then!” Draco had an epiphany. “In Hagrid’s yard.”

“A picnic next to Hagrid’s pumpkin patch?” Pansy raised an eyebrow. “How very festive.”

“I think it’s a perfect idea.” Hermione said.

“Me too!” Blaise agreed. “We’ll sort out the details later in the week, alright?”

When the first day of march finally arrived, Hermione was the first, along with Ginny, to wish Ron a happy birthday, and if the boy had been mad at her for the last few weeks over _Crookshanks’_ incessant murder attempts on _Scabbers_ , then he had forgotten all about it.

At the other side of the room, sitting on Slytherin’s table, Harry saw how Fred and George almost methodically took turns ruffling their little brother’s hair before wishing him a happy birthday. Percy had even got Ron that year’s official Chudley Cannons’ stamp album for him to fill before turning away his attention back to Oliver Wood.

After they finished their breakfast, the Slytherins left their table to greet Ron and wish him a happy birthday. The redhead was all smiles as every one of them took turns hugging him and wishing him a happy birthday. Harry didn’t know how to explain it, but Ron and Cedric had the same kind of smile: wide, joyous, and overall, real. It was the kind of smile that made Harry feel at peace, and that was perhaps the Weasleys' best virtue: their ability to make someone feel at home.

Just as Harry and Ron broke their hug he watched how Draco took a deep breath before walking up to Ron and embraced him into the most awkward hug he had ever witnessed. Harry noticed how, as his head rested on Draco’s shoulder, Ron’s wide, blue eyes wandered across the Great Hall, as if he expected someone else to be there, to walk up and hug him. Ron’s eyes betrayed him for a second, Harry saw a glimpse of disappointment before turning again to Draco as he let go of him, laughing off what was perhaps the most awkward hug in the history of Scotland.

“You’re free this evening, right?” Hermione asked Ron as everyone stood around him.

“Of course I am.” Ron smiled radiantly. “Why? Did you all plan something for me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Pansy was quick to dismiss him. “Hagrid wants us over for tea.”

“Oh.” Ron said, a little embarrassed. “I just hope he didn’t bother baking something.”

The group left the Great Hall looking like a small army, Ron walked between Harry and Hermione, Ginny and Pansy were walking ahead of them as if they were leading the group to Hagrid’s Hut, Percy walked a few steps behind them, minding his own business and Fred and George looked like Theo’s bodyguards as they towered over the younger boy as they gossiped their way down to Hagrid’s.

They had just arrived at the Clock Tower’s courtyard when Ron’s eyes lit up at the sight of Cedric Diggory. He was sitting on a bench with Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones but when he caught the slightest glimpse of Ron he jumped from his seat and ran toward the group.

“Happy birthday, Ron!” Cedric chanted, tackling Ron more than hugging him. “Here.” Cedric handed him a birthday card and what seemed to be a Chocolate Frog card.

“You must be joking!” Ron screeched in excitement. “How did you get it?”

“Wait, get what?” Ginny asked as he analyzed Cedric’s gift in confusion.

“Cedric just helped me complete my collection!” Ron said. “How did you know that was the card I was missing?”

“You told me, remember?” Cedric said, almost as wide-eyed as the birthday boy.

“I did? When?” Ron asked in disbelief.

“At the victory party.” Cedric said.

“Merlin’s beard, now that’s the reason why I don’t remember it.” Ron chuckled in embarrassment. “You, sir, have a hell of a good memory.”

“Even when tipsy.” Cedric murmured, and Harry could swear he winked at him.

“Wait.” Percy suddenly cut in. “You had a victory party and you didn’t invite me?”

“Can you honestly blame them for not inviting you?” Fred teased him.

“Oh, shut up!” Percy replied indignantly.

“Besides, with pretty boy Diggory here they were at full capacity when it came to fun prefects.” George added with a mischievous smile.

“That’s not true, Percy.” Cedric was quick to intervene. “We all like you very much.”

“Speak for yourself.” Pansy murmured, earning a disapproving look from Hermione.

The group, that seemed to grow larger by the second, had now crossed the wooden bridge, Harry and Hermione exchanged a complicit look as they dragged Ron down the hill that led to Hagrid’s Hut.

As they came closer to Hagrid’s door, Ron started to look warily at his surroundings, he expected someone to jump at him at any moment now, but he only found _Buckbeak_ and _Fang_ chasing each other back and forth near the Forbidden Forest’s limits.

“Hagrid, we’re here.” Hermione called as she knocked, but just as her knuckles hit the wooden door, it creaked open.

“Is no one home?” Ron asked, stepping in. “How weir- “

“SURPRISE!” Hagrid, Blaise, Neville, Dean, and Seamus roared from inside the house.

“Merlin’s beard, people!” Ron laughed as he rested his hand on his chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Happy birthday, Ron.” Blaise greeted him with a huge smile on his face. He was wearing a navy blue sweater with an enormous B knit on his chest, Molly Weasley’s doing, one can only assume.

“Yeah, happy birthday, Ron.” The rest of them followed.

“Want some cake?” Hagrid offered as they all came inside the hut.

“D-did you bake it?” Ron asked warily, trying to sound as polite as possible.

“Ah, not this time.” Hagrid sighed in disappointment. “Your friend Blaise here beat me to it.”

“You can bake?!” Ron asked him in disbelief.

“Sort of, yeah.” Blaise shrugged it off.

“‘Sort of’, he says! Nonsense.” Hagrid said as he went to grab the cake from the counter. “He did a wonderful job, I think he’s better at it than I am.”

“Understatement of the year.” Fred chuckled.

After he put the cake on top of the main table, Hagrid pat Blaise in the back, as if by baking a cake he was now carrying Hagrid’s torch. Harry and Hermione buried fourteen candles on top of the red cake, being careful of not ruining the “Happy Birthday, Ronald” sign written in yellow frosting.

Hagrid pointed his pink umbrella at the cake and to everyone’s horror he muttered “ _Incendio_ ”, everyone, Blaise especially (who let out a big sigh), was relieved when it was the candles that lit instead of the cake.

They sang all “Happy Birthday” to Ron and, as Hagrid cut the cake in pieces for everyone to eat, he urged them to “go to the yard”.

“Thank God.” Draco sighed. “If I had to spend another second squeezed in there I might have fainted.”

“Don’t be dramatic.” Harry dismissed him.

“No, he’s right.” Percy said. “I nearly didn’t find the air to keep singing.”

“If only.” George teased him.

Blaise was the last one to leave Hagrid’s Hut and he was carrying a bunch of blankets on his arms, they each took a blanket off the boy’s arms to lay them on the grass near the pumpkin patch.

Draco liked Hagrid’s blankets, they all had different patterns: plaid and whatnot, some were even burnt around the edges, which reminded Draco of _Norberta_ , the dragon Hagrid had for a while during their first year. He grabbed one of the burnt blankets, laid it on the ground, and sat on it, just as Hagrid started to deliver everyone their respective piece of cake on little china plates.

“What are you thinking about?” Harry sat beside him.

“I was thinking of _Norberta_ , to be honest.” Draco chuckled.

“ _Norberta_ as in _Norberta,_ Hagrid’s dragon?” Harry laughed.

“ _Norberta_ as in _Norberta,_ Hagrid’s dragon, indeed.” Draco nodded.

“Is there a reason you were thinking of her?” Harry inquired. “Or is that something you just do on the regular?”

“Well, it was this blanket that reminded me of her, actually.” Draco pointed at the burnt edges.

“Yeah, that seems like her doing.” Harry agreed. “That or Hagrid used the Growing Charm on the flames again as he made tea.”

“I heard that.” Hagrid appeared behind them handing them their respective pieces of cake. “Speaking of tea, I have some inside if you want.”

“Errr… later, maybe.” Harry said. “Thank you, Hagrid.”

Hagrid smiled at them before getting back inside the house to continue delivering cake to his guests.

“Do you think he is having a good time?” Harry asked Draco.

“Who? Hagrid? He is delighted.”

“No, silly, I mean Ron.”

“Of course he is, look at him.”

Ron and his siblings were just a few blankets away from them, he was eating both his and Ginny’s pieces of cake as she urged her older brothers to stop making fun of Percy, who was now begging Hagrid to give him a briefing on what the Care of Magical Creatures final exam would encompass.

Neville and Theo, with Blaise guiding their steps, presented Ron with a gigantic picnic basket filled with _Zonko’s_ products, it was a birthday present from all of them since they couldn’t decide on what to get him. Ron was delighted with the present, and so were Fred and George.

“I suspected from the very beginning that you were all planning something.” Ron declared after everyone was finished with the cake.

“Really?” Hermione asked. “How so?”

“Well, you all had been disappearing for days, the lot of you, at the same time.” Ron explained. “Besides, you have to admit “a tea party at Hagrid’s” wasn’t the best excuse to lure me here, we’re so many!”

“I told you we needed a better excuse.” Blaise muttered.

The rest of the evening flew by, Dean and Seamus had fallen asleep on their blanket, Hermione and Pansy were helping Hagrid chase _Buckbeak_ so they could tie him down again while Harry, Draco, Cedric, and the Weasleys played Exploding Snap, and Neville and Theo washed the remaining dishes.

“Right.” Hagrid sighed loudly as he and the girls had finally managed to tie down the hippogriff. “I don’t mean to pressure you into leaving, but the sun is setting and I don’t want any of you to get in trouble.”

“How funny, I was thinking the same thing.” Percy starting sucking up to Hagrid in hopes he would reconsider the final exam briefing.

Neville and Theo woke up Dean and Seamus from their nap and joined the rest in cleaning up their mess off from Hagrid’s yard.

“Thanks for everything.” Ron told Hagrid as they left.

“I was happy to do my part.” Hagrid smiled. “Happy birthday, Ron.”

The group started to make their way back into the castle and, as they climbed the hill that led to the wooden bridge, the last two pieces of cake Harry had had before playing Exploding Snap echoed in his stomach.

“Ate more than intended?” Cedric asked him.

“What gave me away?” Harry laughed.

“The look on your face.” Cedric replied. “I’m feeling a little bloated, too.”

“The look on my face, _and_ my stomach’s rumbling.” Harry added.

“Yeah, that too.” Cedric chuckled.

“Had a good time?” Harry asked him, the group was walking a few steps ahead of them.

“The best.” Cedric told him. “And you?”

“Same, I’m just happy Ron had a great time too.” Harry said. “It was getting frustrating not knowing what to do for his birthday.”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

They walked in silence for a while when suddenly Cedric stopped.

“Harry.” He called him.

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry about the other night.”

“The other night?” Harry asked puzzled.

“The night of the victory party.” Cedric said.

“Sorry about what?”

“Well, I think I said some things.” Cedric’s cheeks were getting warmer

“You _asked_ some things.” Harry corrected him. “One of them was if I thought you were pretty, I think.”

“Yesiremember.”

“What was that?” Harry asked restraining his laughter.

“I said I remember!” Cedric said, clearer this time.

“You do?”

“Yes, and I’m sorry about that, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” Cedric avoided Harry’s eyes.

“Oh, don’t apologize.” Harry squeezed his hand. “I just enjoy teasing you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Cedric scoffed.

“And if you remember that, then you must remember you promised me to not drink that inhuman amount of butterbeer (of all things) ever again.” Harry raised a playful eyebrow.

“Yeah, I remember that too.” Cedric giggled.

“And just to get that matter settled,” Harry started. “I do think you’re pretty.”

Harry walked faster leaving Cedric behind as the Hufflepuff blushed aggressively and pretty much struggled to exist for a moment. When they arrived at the castle the group said their goodbyes, wished Ron a happy birthday for the last time, and made their way to their respective common rooms.

The Easter holidays are not what they used to be, Harry thought in boredom as he found himself trapped in a study session Hermione and Blaise had managed to drag them all into.

March had flown by and when Harry noticed April had arrived, the snow was nowhere to be seen, the days were starting to get longer and the weather had started to get warmer, Flint’s early morning training sessions were now more tolerable, but the same could not be said about Blaise and Hermione’s increasing obsession about final exams.

“We’re literally months away, why are we doing this now?.” Draco complained as he doodled in one of the books they had taken from the library.

“Stop it, or Madame Pince will severe your hand.” Harry whispered as he stopped took Draco’s quill.

“Believe it or not,” Hermione cleared her throat. “We’re closer to June than you may think.”

“We’re like a month and a half away.” Pansy said as she forced herself to dive into some divination book.

“Precisely, we’re barely in time.” Blaise cut in.

“Can anyone remind me why are we putting up with this?” Harry yawned as he carefully closed _The Monster Book of Monsters_.

“Because they’re scarily convincing when they’re panicking about the finals.” Theo said.

“Right.”

Harry would be lying if he said he wasn’t worried about the finals too, he was, he just wasn’t as worried. The first person he saw panicking about tests was Cedric, who almost had a breakdown on the first week of Easter holidays over his O. W. L. s. Failing their O. W. L. s seemed to be not on the Weasley twins’ bucket list as well since Ron had told him they had fallen asleep in the common room three times that week while they studied with some other fifth years.

“Hey, do you want to leave?” Draco asked with a mischievous smile. Hermione had gone to the bathroom.

“Hermione will have our heads if we leave.” Harry glanced at him.

“Only if she catches us.”

“You better run fast then.” Harry grabbed his books and fled their table at the library.

“Guys!” They heard Theo calling them. “You can’t leave!”

But they did, and as they ran away from the library they witnessed firsthand Madam Pince struggling with who she was going after: them, for running in the library, or Theo, for yelling in it. In the end, she went for Theo, since she lacked the energy to chase the two boys down.

“Blaise is gonna be _so_ pissed.” Draco panted behind him.

“Yeah.” Harry slowed down. “But it’ll be worth it.”

“Where should we go?” Draco asked.

“I just want to get some sleep, really.” Harry said. “The common room?”

“Yeah, because pretending to study is so exhausting.” Draco teased him.

“I wasn’t pretending!” Harry said indignantly.

“Oh, please!” Draco scoffed.

“Okay, maybe just a little.”

“That’s what I thought.”. Draco smiled. “Let’s go to the common room.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I do have a thing for birthdays, and to be honest I just wanted to let Ron shine a little, he's one of my favourite characters and I think he is such a great friend to Harry.  
> Also, the break I took helped me get my ideas straight, so I already have planned this book's ending and the beginning of the Goblet of Fire rewrite. If everything goes as planned there are maybe four to five chapters left, more or less, so there's that.  
> Please let me know what you thought of this chapter on the comments below.


	21. Hermione's goodbye.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hermione drops Divination along with someone else and Draco reveals something to Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with a new chapter! I'm so very sorry for the delay.  
> I hope you like it.

**Chapter 21:**

**Hermione’s goodbye.**

Harry and Draco regretted ditching their friend group’s study dates as soon as the classes started after the Easter holidays. Professor Trelawney had announced that from that point onward they would be working on “unveiling the many mysteries of the crystal ball” and, while Blaise and Hermione certainly didn’t seem that very well versed on the so-called mysteries, they seemed to have a better grasp, at least theoretically, of it.

“Blaise, come on,” Draco begged him as they climbed the stairs on their way to the Divination classroom.

“No, absolutely not,” Blaise replied sharply. “You two signed your death sentence the moment you decided to walk out of the study sessions.”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic!” Harry dismissed him. “The study sessions were killing us.”

“Killing what exactly, besides time?” Blaise inquired. “It’s not like you actually put any effort into it.”

“What are you talking about?” Harry gasped indignantly. “I was studyin- “

“Harry, stop,” Draco cut in. “You’re not that good an actor.”

“Well, that’s beside the point,” Blaise said. “You two are on your own for this year’s finals.”

“Fine,” Harry barked at him as he entangled his and Draco’s arm, getting away from Blaise and the rest of the group.

“I can’t believe him, honestly!” Harry sighed.

“Well, we sort of had it coming,” Draco said as they arrived at the Divination classroom.

“Yeah, maybe ditching them at the library wasn’t such a good idea after all,” Harry gave in. “But we were on Easter break! We were supposed to put our feet up, have fun!”

“And that we did,” Draco smirked. “But now Easter break is over and we need to figure out what we’re gonna do.”

“I think we can ace Divination if we are tragic enough with our predictions,” Harry blurted as he made himself comfortable on the cushion. “If you predict I fall off my broom you could even dethrone Lavender as Trelawney’s favourite student.”

“I don’t need to predict your death to dethrone Brown, I’m a charming man.” Draco scoffed. “But yes, I believe that’ll do the trick for at least this subject.”

“Alright, what about the rest?” Harry asked.

“Well, you’re pretty good at Transfigurations,” Draco noted. “So I don’t think we need to worry about that one.”

“Care of Magical Creatures?” Harry raised an eyebrow.

“Do you honestly believe Hagrid would fail us?” Draco asked.

“I think Hagrid wouldn’t fail _me_ ,” Harry laughed. “I’m not so sure about you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Draco scoffed.

“Well, I’m not the one that almost got _Buckbeak_ executed,” Harry said playfully.

“Hagrid and I are both past that,” Draco murmured. “…I hope.”

“For your sake, I hope so too,” Harry said. “What about Charms?”

“I think we can both stand our ground on Charms,” Draco said.

“Yeah, me too,” Harry nodded. “What about Defense Against the Dark Arts?”

“You did not just ask me that.”

“What?”

“Lupin adores you,” Draco rolled his eyes.

“ _Used to_ adore me,” Harry said. “I’m not sure he has quite forgotten about the incident the night of the victory party.”

“Maybe, but you’re a natural at Defense Against the Dark Arts,” Draco told him.

“Thank you,” Harry blushed. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

“Yeah, I know,” Draco laughed. “Potions?”

But Harry didn’t have time to reply to his friend as Professor Trelawney entered the classroom, she was carrying her own cristal ball as she made her way to her small desk on the back in the back of the room.

“My children,” Trelawney greeted the class with an enthusiastic smile that somehow made her eyes look even bigger. “Today we’re finally getting onto the subject we’ve all been waiting for.”

“I wonder what that might be,” Draco yawned.

“Crystal balls!” Trelawney screeched excitedly. “You already have yours on the center of your table, so, grab your textbooks, and let’s unfog our fates.”

“Oh, lord,” Harry lamented as he slammed the textbook on the table, making Trelawney direct their attention to them.

“Mr. Potter, I see you’re maybe as excited for this lesson as I am.” Trelawney smiled at him.

“Totally, professor.” Harry forced a smile as Draco chuckled in silence.

“Well, do you want to go first?” Trelawney offered.

“Errr… I-I would rather…” Harry stammered.

“Actually, professor,” Blaise cut in, glancing at them from Hermione’s table. “I’d like to go first.”

“Mr. Zabini, where has all this energy been all year? Of course you can go first!” Trelawney was ecstatic. “But, may I ask, why are you all crammed around that little table? You, Mr. Nott, and Miss Parkinson are usually on Mr. Potter’s table, not all crammed against Granger, Weasley, and Longbottom.”

“Our third eye’s visions are… errr, clearer here, yes,” Blaise blurted as the Slytherins nodded.

“He’s turned them against us,” Draco murmured. “This is a coup, I’m telling you.”

“Stop thinking of yourself as this group’s leader,” Harry shushed him. “And shut up, I’m actually curious as to where this is gonna go.”

“Very well, Mr. Zabini, we’re all ears.” Trelawney cleared her throat.

“Right,” Blaise said as he stared into the crystal ball. “I see, uh, a shadow.”

“What is this shadow’s shape? Come on, look deeper.” Trelawney encouraged him.

“It’s an animal, I think.” Blaise said convincingly.

“What is it doing?” If Trelawney had been sat she would have been at the edge of her seat.

“I think it’s… umm, walking?”

“Is it going after someone?!” Trelawney suggested, nearly shouting.

“What? No!” Blaise said confounded.

“Yes, it is!” Trelawney said. “It’s The Grim, child, look deeper!”

“Oh, for goodness sake’s, not that godforsaken dog again!” Hermione exhaled in desperation.

“Miss Granger, “ Trelawney said calmly as the rest of the class stared at the girl. “I must say I saw this coming from the beginning of the year.”

“What, exactly?” Hermione inquired fiercely.

“Your lack of talent when it comes to the noble art of Divination, of course,” Trelawney said, somehow, endearingly. “Your third eye is as closed as can be, my dear.”

“I see.” Hermione said, unaware of the irony. “And what would you have me do?”

“There’s nothing to be done, sweet child,” Trelawney said sadly. “You simply do not possess the gift, I think it’s best if you- “

“Leave?” Hermione inquired, almost daringly.

“Yes, I think that would be best,” Trelawney nodded.

“Yes, I think so too,” Hermione replied, eager to get the last word.

Hermione grabbed her bag and as she got up she hit the crystal ball with it, the ball flew to the floor and broke into a hundred little, sharp pieces of glass as it hit the ground.

“I’m leaving then,” Hermione announced as she walked to the trapdoor.

Harry wondered if she was waiting for someone to stop her, or at least go with her.

“Professor?” Pansy cut in. “I think it’s best if I leave with her.”

“Oh?” Trelawney was, perhaps for the first time, shocked. “Miss Parkinson, I don’t believe you’re as _ill-fitted_ as Miss Granger, why do you want to leave?”

“I believe I am, Professor, “ Pansy got up and grabbed her bag. “ _Ill-fitted_ , as you say.”

“But, Miss Parkinson, I’m afraid I-I don’t see it.”

“ _Look deeper_.” Pansy almost hissed, she was now by Hermione’s side. “Shall we?”

Hermione smiled as Pansy gave her a reassuring look and they both left the classroom by the trapdoor, one after the other.

“This class has been surprisingly interesting,” Draco whispered into Harry’s ear.

“Oh, yes,” Trelawney cleared her throat after the two girls left. “I think I see it now, Miss Parkinson’s lack of talent for the noble art of Divination.”

“Lack of patience, perhaps,” Harry murmured.

“And can you honestly blame her?” Draco said.

After Hermione and Pansy’s exit, Trelawney never really regained the class's attention since everyone, including her, was still shocked. Even after she dismissed the class, after a very boring half-hour of staring into cloudy crystal balls, everyone was still murmuring and commenting on the recent events.

“At least she can now attend Ancient Runes without going crazy,” Harry heard Ron say as they walked down the Divination Tower’s steps.

“What do you mean?” Theo asked.

“Well, she’s supposed to take Ancient Runes at the same time as Divination,” Neville explained. “I don’t know how she managed to keep a perfect attendance record in both of them.”

“Anyway, what were we talking about before this class’s interesting turn?” Harry asked Draco, they had reached the bottom floor by then.

“About your plan to ace Potions without Blaise to help you study for the finals,” Draco replied.

“ _Our_ plan,” Harry cleared his throat.

“No, _your_ plan,” Draco insisted.

“What are you talking about?” Harry asked him, clearly confounded by Draco’s insistence. “We’re equally bad at Potions, a mess, actually.”

“You are, I’m the professor’s godson,” Draco smiled proudly. “And I’m pretty good at Potions, actually.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yes. Yes, I am.”

“Draco,” Harry stopped walking and stared into the blond’s gray eyes. “You’re not, we’ve struggled together in the Potion’s final for the last two years.”

“Harry,” Draco held Harry’s gaze. “I come from a _pureblood_ family, my godfather is the Potion’s professor.”

“Yes, I know that,” Harry said. “Your point is?”

“I’m probably the best at Potions in our class,” Draco said.

“B-but that doesn’t make any sense,” Harry replied. “Draco, I’ve watched you struggle!”

“You’ve watched me _pretend_ to struggle,” Draco corrected him.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” Harry shook his head. “Why would you pretend to be bad at something for almost three years?”

“Well, when you arrived you were pretty clueless,” Draco replied.

“Of course I was clueless!” Harry replied. “I had just been told I was a wizard, but that’s beside the point!”

“The point is,” Draco started. “You needed help adjusting.”

“Yes?” Harry said, still not getting it.

“And what’s best than having someone help you adjust?” Draco explained.

“So, you pretended to be bad at Potions so you could help me?” Harry nodded as every word escaped his mouth.

“I know I haven’t been much help, but yes,” Draco replied. “That was the intention.”

Harry stood there speechless for a moment staring at his best friend’s eyes, he looked pale, as if colour had somehow decided to abandon the boy’s skin.

“Harry?” Draco called him. “Are you mad?”

The green-eyed boy almost tackled Draco when he ran directly into him and embraced him into the tightest hug. Harry was small, but _quidditch_ had done wonders for him, he was stronger than he seemed, Draco almost couldn’t breathe.

“Harry?” Draco managed to say.

“Shut up,” Harry said giving him a peck on the cheek.

“I take it you’re not mad, then?” Draco blushed.

“I’m embarrassed, not mad,” Harry said as he let go of the taller boy’s torso.

“What? Why?” Draco said still red, faintly touching his cheek.

“Because you forced himself to be dumb as dumb as I am for two years!”

“And I’d do it again!” Draco grabbed him from his shoulders, “And don’t say you’re dumb, we all struggle at something.”

“Yeah, right,” Harry rolled his eyes. “Tell me one thing you struggle at, Mr. _Pureblood_.”

“Divination,” Draco replied decisively.

“Don’t we all?” Harry laughed.

“True,” Draco smiled.

“But still, wasn’t it easier to just tutor me?” Harry asked.

“I don’t know,” Draco smiled. “I was afraid you would see me as your tutor, not as your friend.”

“But you are,” Harry squeezed his hand. “ _My_ best friend.”

“And you’re _mine_ ,” Draco gave him a reassuring smile. “But I was very prejudiced, I had a ton of work to do before being worthy of being your best friend, I still do.”

“You’ll _always_ be my best friend,” Harry said as he intertwined his and Draco’s fingers.

“I hope so,” Draco sighed. “I really do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's two things I love, Drarry and writing dialogues in italics.   
> I plan on posting a new chapter every day and hopefully be done with this fic by Christmas, and then, onto the Goblet of Fire! I'm very excited!  
> Please let me know you thoughts on this chapter on the comments below.


	22. Ginny Weasley, seeker, and basilisk slayer.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a late night study session, Harry and Draco rush to the quidditch final, Slytherin against Gryffindor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, here's the next chapter! I'll try to update tomorrow as well.

**Chapter 22:**

**Ginny Weasley, seeker, and basilisk slayer.**

As finals approached, Harry had less and less time for distractions, his days consisted of early morning training with Flint and the rest of the Slytherin _quidditch_ team and then, late-night study sessions at the common room with Draco, who proved himself to be quite the Potions master.

“And I think that’s it for today,” Draco said as he slammed closed the gigantic Potions textbook he had been using for their study sessions.

“I feel dead inside,” Harry complained. “I don’t think I’ll be able to wake up tomorrow.”

“Well, unless you want Flint to bite your head off you will,” Draco warned him. “You’ve excelled at _quidditch_ so far this year, you can’t bail on the final.”

“I’m not bailing on it,” Harry said. “And I haven’t _excelled_ at _quidditch_ , we lost the first match because of me.”

“You lost the first match because of dementors, you did well,” Draco told him. “And everyone, including Diggory, knows you are a better seeker than he is.”

“Don’t let him hear you saying that,” Harry smiled.

“I’ll happily tell him to his face if you dare me to,” Draco smirked.

“Don’t bother, I won’t.” Harry said, “Let’s go to bed.”

“ _Lumos_ ,” Draco said and the tip of his wand lit as he led the way to the dorm room.

Suddenly, the sound of their bare feet stepping on the stone floor of the Slytherin common room was eclipsed by the sound of a faint wailing and the sound of chains dragging on the floor.

“Of course we had to get the creepiest ghost in the castle,” Harry complained. “The one covered in blood is the one we had to get, of course.”

“Don’t tell me you’re scared,” Draco teased.

“Don’t be silly, of course not,” Harry humphed. “The Bloody Baron hasn’t got anything on Voldemort hanging from the back of Quirrel’s head.”

“I still think you’re scared,” Draco chuckled.

“I’m not scared!” Harry shushed him. “It just caught me off guard, alright?”

“If you say so,” Draco said as he opened the dorm door.

The two boys came inside, only guided by the dim light emitted by Draco’s wand, Harry ran to the side of his bed and pulled his pajamas from inside his trunk and put them on as fast as he could.

“Goodnight,” Harry said panting as he sat on top of his bed.

“Goodnight,” Draco replied.

Truth be told, Harry was a little scared. Sure, he had faced worst things, a teacher with two faces on his head tried to kill him when he was eleven, and last year Tom Riddle had tried to kill him with a giant snake, and if it weren’t for Ginny Weasley, he would have succeeded. He had seen worse, he had lived through worse, and in broad daylight, he wouldn’t have been startled by the Bloody Baron, he wouldn’t have been startled by any of the ghosts inside the castle, in fact, he was quite amicable with Nearly-Headless Nick. But sometimes, Harry couldn’t help still perceiving things the muggle way, he had, after all, been living with _muggles_ for twelve years, and in the _muggle_ world, ghosts weren’t exactly seen as friendly, actually, they weren’t seen at all.

“Harry?” Draco whispered from his bed, careful of not waking up anyone.

“Yes?” Harry replied as he pulled his feet far from the bed’s edge.

“Do you want me to go sleep with you?” Draco asked quietly, he knew Harry would be embarrassed if any of the other boys heard, but they all were sound asleep.

“What? No,” Harry was quick to reply, the first time Draco offered him to sleep together was in the beginning weeks of their first year. “I told you I’m not scared.”

“I didn’t suggest you were,” Draco said calmly. “I simply offered.”

“Well, don’t,” Harry said sharply. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Harry exhaled, staring at the bed beside him. He was beginning to calm down but he wasn’t quite there yet.

“Close your bed’s curtains and come here,” Harry gave in as if he was the one doing Draco a favour.

Draco almost jumped from his bed, and as he laid on Harry’s he closed both his and Harry’s bed’s curtains with a wand movement. They both knew Crabbe and Goyle wouldn’t dare open Draco’s bed’s curtains and so they wouldn’t know he was with Harry.

It took a few minutes for Draco to settle in on Harry’s bed, but once they were both under the weight of the blankets and under the dark of the closed curtains their bodies started to relax.

Draco’s skin was usually cold to touch, but Harry felt drawn to him, his best friend’s body was, for some reason, warm that night. Draco wasn’t big on physical demonstrations of affection, but he always made an exception for Harry, who had proved himself to be a very physical person, always craving touch, always hugging someone. And so Harry embraced Draco’s torso with his arms, his head rested on the blond’s chest, Harry could hear his heartbeat, it was loud, loud and fast, but as he settled in so did his heartbeat.

“Thank you,” Harry said quietly.

“You don’t have to thank me,” Draco kissed his best friend’s forehead. “Ever.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, at last,” Draco chuckled softly.

They both closed his eyes and relaxed their bodies, and, without noticing, they both fell asleep to the tune of Goyle’s rhythmical snoring.

The next morning was chaos. They were right, Crabbe and Goyle didn’t dare open their curtains, but for some reason, neither did Blaise and Theo, and when they finally woke up, Harry realized he had slept through the early morning _quidditch_ training, and, if he didn’t hurry he wouldn’t arrive on time to the final, and Flint would have his head.

“Have you brushed your teeth yet?” Draco asked as he got dressed.

“I don’t think Ginny is going to stop chasing the _snitch_ to check if I have a breath mint inside my mouth!” Harry replied as he got his _Firebolt_ from under his bed.

“I was just asking!” Draco complained.

“Well, don’t. we’re late!” Harry panicked as he grabbed his best friend’s arm and fled the dorm room.

Harry might have slept through Flint’s training, but he was sure sprinting from the dungeons to the Clock Tower’s courtyard was enough warming up for him.

“Hop on and hold on tight,” Harry ordered as he sat on the _Firebolt_.

“I’m not doing that!” Draco said, “Snape will kill us if he finds out!”

“Snape is already at the _Quidditch_ Pitch, and right now I’m more scared of facing Flint’s wrath than Snape’s,” Harry said. “Now hop on and hold on tight!”

“You’ll be the death of me, I swear to God,” Draco sighed as he climbed on the broom.

Draco barely had time to brace himself, he had one arm around Harry’s waist and the other on the back of the broom, his knuckles were white from holding onto the broomstick. The view was Majestic, but neither of them was paying enough attention to it, Harry was focused on arriving right on time and Draco focused on holding on for dear life.

“Go slower!” Draco yelled to make himself heard, the wind whistled inside his ears.

“You’re right, I’ll go faster!” Harry yelled as well.

“No! I meant slowe- AHHH!”

Harry had gained speed as he descended, the _Quidditch_ Pitch was now in sight and just as they got closer Harry dropped Draco on the clear before the stairs to the tribune.

“Sorry!” Harry apologized as he flew to the dressing tent.

“Jerk,” Draco mumbled as he brushed off the dust from his clothes with his hands.

Once inside the dressing tent Harry hopped off the broom, his teammates were all waiting for him, but Flint was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m sorry, I fell asleep and- !”

“HARRY POTTER!” Flint roared behind him. “Get dressed, NOW! We’re going out in two minutes.”

Harry put on his emerald green _quidditch_ robe as fast as he could and stood in formation with the rest of the team as they saw Madame Hooch drag the _quidditch_ ball’s chest inside the field.

“We’re going out!” Flint announced and they walked out of the tent, watching the Gryffindor team doing the same from the other side of the field.

Both teams stood in a circle around Madame Hooch, the green and red robes contrasted perfectly and Ginny gave Harry a playful smile from the other side of the circle.

“Don’t underestimate her,” Flint whispered. “I heard she’s good.”

“I saw her kill a basilisk,” Harry said. “I wouldn’t dare underestimate her.”

Madame Hooch pointed the tip of her wand to her neck and the whole school could hear her clear her throat.

“Hop on your brooms,” Madame Hooch made herself heard. “I expect fair play from all of you.”

The players obeyed and in a matter of seconds they were all levitating a few meters above the ground, Madame Hooch released the balls, and, with a whistle that almost destroyed everyone’s eardrums, the match began.

Harry knew that as long as the match was ongoing, the three Weasleys on the opposite team wouldn’t have mercy on him, he had faced Fred and George twice before and he knew they wouldn’t hesitate on hitting a _bludger_ right at him. As for Ginny, he hadn’t seen her play before but if she was half as fierce as she was when killing a gigantic snake in an underground chamber, then she was a force to be reckoned with.

The snitch seemed to made itself almost invisible the moment Madame Hooch set it free, both Harry and Ginny were flying in circles around the _Quidditch_ Pitch trying their best to catch a glimpse of it. Harry could see Ron, Hermione, Neville, Dean, and Seamus on the Gryffindor tribune, they were holding a long blanket with “Go Lions!” written from side to side. Harry continued flying, he was trying to see if Draco had arrived at the Slytherin tribune but he was forced to focus on the match when a _bludger_ almost blew his nose off.

Harry followed the _bludger_ ’s trail, Geroge had hit it towards him and Fred blew him a kiss, McGonagall had to order Lee Jordan to stop cackling at his best friends’ antics and continue commenting on the match.

As Harry flew towards Ginny, who seemed to have seen the _snitch_ , he noticed how Oliver Wood had barely managed to block with the tail of his broom a _quaffle_ Marcus Flint had thrown to one of the Gryffindor goalposts. That relationship must be pretty intense, Harry thought.

When he finally caught up with Ginny he realized that she had not seen the _snitch_ yet, it was just a hunch, but just as he meant to fly away to keep on looking, Harry saw the _snitch_ fluttering behind Ginny’s head.

Careful as to not give away his intentions to a still oblivious Ginny, Harry decided it was best to act quickly, so he grabbed his broomstick tightly and flew past her as fast as he could, he saw through the corner of the eye how the winding trail he left behind as he flew past the girl blew her red hair right into her face.

Still half-blind, Ginny followed behind him, Harry still had an advantage against her, but Ginny’s broom was surprisingly fast and she was catching up. The snitch suddenly dropped and Harry forced his broom to descend almost vertically, he had to grab his glasses since they were beginning to slide away from his nose.

Harry raised his hand to reach for the snitch, but just as he meant to catch it Ginny cut in from the right and reached as well, Harry must have lost her when the snitch descended since she didn’t saw her coming.

Ginny and Harry flew shoulder to shoulder, both with one arm holding their brooms and the other in the air trying to catch the winged ball. The _snitch_ gave one last turn, it descended abruptly and they both followed, it was a dangerous turn, Ginny managed to stay on her broom, but Harry jumped and rolled on the grass of the field. The _Quidditch_ Pitch was dead silent but as Harry got up he showed he had barely caught the _snitch_ , the ball had surrendered and Harry held it in between his fingers. The crowd went wild and Lee Jordan’s final commentary before McGonagall made him shut up was “Goddamn it, Potter caught it.”

Ginny hopped off her broom and walked towards Harry with her head low, they were both pretty exhausted.

“Congratulations, it was a nice match,” Ginny said as she offered her hand. “Are you hurt?”

“Thank you, Gin,” Harry replied, shaking her hand. “An no, I believe I’m fine, you?”

“Same,” Ginny replied. “Congratulations, Harry.”

Harry was entranced watching Ginny walk away when the rest of the Slytherin _quidditch_ team hopped off their brooms, they all ran towards Harry and embraced him into a hug that Harry thought would kill him.

“We won, we won!” Flint sang with tears in his eyes. “Oliver’s gonna be so pissed!”

Harry looked up and saw how Dumbledore walked into the field with a giant golden cup in his hands, he gave it to Flint, the team captain, who started to sob the second he touched the Cup, Snape had to restrain Flint, who was all sweaty, from hugging the Headmaster.

When both teams finally walked out of the field Harry noticed his friends were waiting outside the dressing tent. The Slytherins hugged him first.

“I forgive you for dropping me off your broom earlier,” Draco laughed as he embraced the smaller boy in a hug.

“I don’t remember apologizing,” Harry teased. “But thank you.”

Then Cedric came after the Slytherins, he was wearing a green and silver patterned scarf around his neck.

“Congratulations, Harry, you’re an awesome seeker,” Cedric smiled. “I couldn’t get past Ginny when I was up against her.”

“Thank you, Ced.” Harry replied happily. “Green really suits you.”

When Cedric let go of him, his Gryffindor friends walked up to him, Dean had painted everyone’s faces red and gold. Neither of them was really excited since their team lost, but at least they showed Harry they were happy for him.

And finally just as they started walking back to the castle, the mysterious black dog Harry had seen a couple of times before, walked up to him wagging his tail, it suddenly didn’t look as threatening as it did before, his dark gray eyes were wide and his tongue escaped his mouth almost as if he were smiling, almost as if he understood they were celebrating. Harry patted his head a few times before walking inside the castle with his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter on the comments below.


	23. Buckbeak's fate.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry gets through his finals easily until Professor Trelawney makes a worrying prediction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Christmas, everyone! I hope you are having a great time however you chose to spend this holidays!  
> So sorry for the delay, but I became busier as Christmas Eve arrived. you can expect me to update regularly for the next couple of days.

**Chapter 23:**

**_Buckbeak’s_ ** **fate.**

Finals week was chaotic for everyone in the castle. Cedric looked as if he might pass out at any given minute, he not only had to study for his finals but for his O. W. L. s as well, Harry had witnessed, astonished, how the older boy tried and succeeded to study by reading a sentence from one book and then pass onto another.

“That way I can study for both my Charms final and my O. W. L. s,” Cedric explained with a tired expression on his face.

Harry and Draco passed most of the time in the common room, they agreed with their friends’ decision of leaving them behind in their study sessions since they had ditched them back in Easter. The subjects they focused the most on while studying was Potions, Professor Snape had found out about their sessions and agreed to let them on certain ingredients from his private reserve as a way to reward Harry and Draco’s initiative.

They had gone to Hagrid’s for tea on Monday afternoon after they had aced both their Transfiguration and Charms finals, the two boys were exhausted, but Draco was a little worried about the Care of Magical Creature’s final and he hoped that, by sucking up a bit, Hagrid might slip up some answers. Truth be told, Draco didn’t even have to try, Hagrid seemed distracted, he looked out from his window more times than they could count to see if _Buckbeak_ was still tied up, and, before it got dark, they had gotten all the answers they needed, the Care of Magical Creatures final looked like it would be the easiest, but they left Hagrid’s Hut with an uneasy feeling about their friend.

On Tuesday morning, both third-year Gryffindors and Slytherins met Hagrid in the clear before his Hut for their final, it was disappointingly easy, as expected, they had to keep alive a _Flobberworm_ (a small, herbivorous, brown, magical worm) for an hour. Harry easily found time for talking to Hagrid about his strange behavior from the day before, but when asked if something was the matter, Hagrid surprisingly didn’t budge, and when they eventually ran out of time, Harry had no choice but to leave his friend behind as he had to hurry up to the greenhouses for his Potions final next.

When they arrived at the dungeons for their Potions final, Harry’s palms were sweating from nervousness, the potion they would be brewing as the final evaluation didn’t come as a surprise, it was nothing more and nothing less than a Confusing Concoction, it wasn’t a particularly hard potion to brew, but so far that year Harry had only brewed potions with either Draco or Padma, he lacked a little confidence, but he had found Draco’s tutoring very useful and judging by Snape’s expression as he examined his potion, he seemed to have done acceptably well at least.

After lunch that day they had arranged a study date with Cedric, who agreed to help them study for their Herbology final.

“I still think we should cancel,” Harry told Draco as they made their way to the Transfigurations courtyard, where they were to meet the Hufflepuff. “He is busy enough with his own exams to care about ours.”

“Well, he seems to care enough for you to drop his study sessions for the day,” Draco said monotonously. “Besides, it’s not like we’re the only ones taking precious time for him since you invited those insufferable Hufflepuffs.”

“Insufferable? What are you talking about?” Harry scoffed. “Susan and Ernie are great, you’re just being annoying.”

“Well, they annoy me,” Draco rolled his eyes.

“Well, shut up, I think I see them,” Harry told him.

Susan and Ernie joined them as they entered the courtyard, Cedric was waiting for them sitting on the grass under a willow tree over one of the courtyard’s corner, he had a small pile of books lying on the grass beside him.

The study session was tedious overall, Herbology wasn’t exactly hard, but it wasn’t entertaining to most either, Cedric somehow managed to make the study session more enjoyable than the subject actually was, although Harry had gotten distracted a few times staring at Cedric’s hair, Cedric found it cute but he cleared his throat several times to get Harry’s attention back on the subject.

At the end of the day, Susan and Ernie were the first to leave, they weren’t that behind on Herbology since Professor Sprout was their Head of House, but Harry and Draco’s was a different story.

“Harry?” Cedric called. “I assume you’re heading to your common room now?”

“Ummm, yes, I am,” Harry said as he got up. “Why do you ask?”

“I was hoping I could take you,” Cedric said. “I know we haven’t talked much lately, it’s just I’ve been so busy studying for my exams that I haven’t really found time for much else.”

“How very gallant,” Draco cut in. “But I’m afraid that won’t be possible.”

“And why is that?” Cedric inquired with an eyebrow raised.

“We sleep together, you see,” Draco said and Harry choked.

“In-the-same-dorm-room together,” Harry coughed. “Not together-together.”

“Well, I still don’t see why I can’t take Harry to his common room,” Cedric said. “As a matter of fact, I don’t see why I’m asking you when is him I want to walk.”

“Well, that’s because is more convenient if I take him,” Draco smiled smugly. “He and I are going to the same place after all, aren’t we, Potter?”

“Yes, sorry, Cedric,” Harry told the Hufflepuff. “Maybe some other time.”

“You heard him, Diggory, some other time,” Draco teased. “Besides, it’s getting dark, and we don’t want you to get in trouble.”

“I’m a prefect,” Cedric snarled. “I don’t get in trouble.”

“Whatever,” Draco said.

“Goodnight, Ced, see you around,” Harry said his goodbyes. “Thanks for helping us study.”

“Anytime, Harry,” Cedric replied with a hint of disappointment in his voice. “Malfoy.”

“Diggory.” Draco dismissed him.

Wednesday’s finals turned out to be more tedious than expected. Harry had found useful all the information Florian Fortescue had provided him with about the medieval witch hunts, suddenly Harry wished for the course to be over so he could spend all summer sitting on the tables outside Mr. Fortescue’s had to discreetly wake Draco up from his nap as they took their History of Magic final, Professor Binns didn’t notice of course, still, it’s not like he could have done something about it, since he’s a ghost. As for Herbology, they were the first ones to finish their exam, Professor Sprout seemed pleased and so was Harry. He made a mental note to thank Cedric again.

On Thursday they faced their more interesting final yet, it was the Defense Against the Dark Arts one, of course. Lupin, who seemed to have forgotten all about the victory party night incident, guided the group to a large clear before the Forbidden Forest in which he had placed an obstacle course for them to get through, they ended up wet from crossing a pool containing a _Grindylow_ and muddy from running across a field filled with potholes were a bunch of _Red Caps_ hid, but the real test was the last one: they had to climb into an old trunk and battle the _boggart_ inside of it, they all did very well but as they made their way back to the castle for their Divination final something unusual happened.

“Harry!” a familiar voice called him from behind.

Harry turned around only to see Cornelius Fudge waving enthusiastically at him, followed by a not as ecstatic Lucius Malfoy.

“Minister!” Harry greeted. “What brings you here?”

“A most unpleasant matter, I’m afraid,” Fudge revealed. “I’ve come to check up on a case regarding Hagrid’s hippogriff.”

“Oh?” Harry looked at Draco. “I thought the charges were dropped.”

“They were, Mr. Potter,” Lucius Malfoy intervened. “Draco,” he greeted coldly. “But given the nature of the accusations against the beast, the minister felt like he needed reassurance that the hippogriff means no harm to this school’s students and staff.”

“I’m sure there’s nothing to be worried about,” Fudge said. “It’s just a mere formality.”

“Hagrid will have the beast on best behaviour, of course,” Lucius Malfoy complained.

“He doesn’t need to,” Harry gazed at Draco’s father. “ _Buckbeak_ is an extremely smart animal, he only acts when provoked.”

“Then let’s hope we don’t offend him,” Fudge fake-giggled to clear the air. “It was lovely to see you both.”

Harry and Draco climbed the stairs of the North Tower with their heads low until Draco broke the silence.

“He barely said a word to me,” Draco said. “My birthday’s this Sunday and he barely said a word to me.”

“Don’t let him get you down,” Harry put an arm around his best friend’s shoulders. “You know he’s not the most effusive person when it comes to- “

“When it comes to me,” Draco cut in, his face debating between sadness and anger. “Let’s go to Divination.”

When they arrived at Trelawney’s classroom, she made them wait in a line outside. According to Neville, she was making them come inside one by one and asked them to predict something on the crystal ball.

When it was finally Harry’s turn he noticed that Trelawney had made the place look even more hideous, the classroom was darker and hotter than usual, the curtains were closed shut and there was a fire burning, Trelawney made him seat on a cushion in front of her, the little tea-table between them had a crystal ball in the middle.

“Ah, Harry, welcome,” Trelawney smiled. “Let’s start, shall we?”

Harry humphed in response.

“Now, get comfortable, look deep and tell me what you see,” Trelawney instructed.

“Alright,” Harry cleared his throat. “I, uh, see a hippogriff.”

“A hippogriff?” Trelawney looked at him through her glasses. “You could very well be seeing Hagrid’s beast’s fate, child.”

“You know about that?” Harry asked.

“Oh, everyone in the staff room does,” Trelawney chuckled lightly. “He’s been worried sick about the minister’s visit all week, the hippogriff's life depends on the verdict.”

“The verdict?” Harry gulped.

“Well, whether the minister deems it dangerous or not, of course,” Trelawney pointed the obvious. “But let’s focus on your Reading, does this hippogriff has a head?”

“A head? Of course he does!” Harry replied indignantly.

“How peculiar,” Trelawney said to herself. “And what is it doing? Is it laying dead on the ground?”

Harry pretended to stare deep into the crystal ball’s fog before giving his final answer.

“The hippogriff is flying high above the clouds,” Harry replied, being aware that more than predicting _Buckbeak’s_ fate, he was wishful thinking.

“I must say I expected better,” Trelawney sighed. “Can you tell the next one to come in?”

“Ummm, sure.”

But just as Harry walked to the trapdoor, a deep, raspy voice he had never heard before spoke behind him.

" _It will happen tonight._ ” Sybill Trelawney gasped for air, her lost gaze stared at the air. “ _The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight... the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever he was. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..._ "

“T-the Dark Lord?” Harry stammered.

“The Dark Lord?” Trelawney snapped from her trance. “Merlin, child, were we speaking of that?”

“Y-you said that- “

“I? I’m afraid I don’t remember a thing,” Trelawney blinked multiple times. “Please close the trapdoor on your way out and call in the next.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know your thoughts on the comments below.


	24. The Whomping Willow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Trelawney's unsettling prediction, Harry decides to pay Hagrid a visit.  
> Ron is attacked and gets dragged to the tunnel under the Whomping Willow by The Grim.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay, my laptop broke and I had to figure out a way to retrieve this fic's file, I'll be updating from phone until I get my laptop fixed.  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Chapter 24:**  
**The Whomping Willow**.

Draco’s stomach churned as he saw Harry’s pale face when he descended from Trelawney’s attic, it was the same expression he had made when they found out Ginny Weasley had been dragged to the Chamber of Secrets, the same expression he had made when they discovered the Philosopher’s Stone was in danger, his best friend’s eyes looked wide and empty, his mouth was slightly opened, and his chest went up and down rapidly.

“Harry, is something wrong?” Draco asked, scared to hear the answer. “Harry?”

But Harry did not answer and instead, he kept walking and Draco forced himself to keep up with his best friend’s pressured pace.

“Harry, what’s the matter?” Draco insisted as their steps resonated in the halls. “Answer me, are you hurt?”

Harry gave Draco a small look, he knew he was worrying his friend, he also knew that perhaps he was being a bit dramatic but still, was there a protocol to follow for when you heard your Divination professor’s creepy alter ego predict the imminent return of Lord Voldemort himself? Harry thought not, he had to digest the information himself first before sharing it with anybody else.

“We could eat something, perhaps?” Draco suggested as he held on to Harry’s arm. “You look a bit pale, I’m sure Diggory could sneak us into the kitchens if we asked.”

“No,” Harry finally spoke. “Let’s go to Hagrid’s Hut.”

“Hagrid’s Hut?” Draco frowned. “Whatever for?”

“With the minister here, he must be shaking at the thought of something happening to _Buckbeak_ ,” Harry replied, withholding the truth, just as he did with Aunt Petunia’s letter.

“Did Trelawney say something about _Buckbeak_?” Draco asked, now changing their course to Hagrid’s Hut. “She’s always predicting someone’s death, there’s no use in believing in it, let alone worrying about it.”

“It’s not that,” Harry sighed. “Let’s just go to Hagrid’s, please?”

“Alright,” Draco gulped, he knew something was wrong and whatver it was, Harry didn’t seem to trust him with it.

As they made their way to the Clock Tower’s Courtyard, Harry thought of what to do next, but nothing came to mind. Usually, things fell into place, like clues for him to follow, but all he had at that moment was a very vague and strangely convincing prediction from a woman he had thought fifteen minutes earlier to be a fraud, there was nothing to be done, all that had occurred to him was to visit Hagrid, since the cause of his endless worrying had revealed to them earlier that day.

“You’re here! How was your last final?” Cedric greeted them. “We were just about to take a walk around the lake when all hell broke loose.”

“What do you mean all hell broke loose?” Harry gasped, fearing the worst.

“Ron’s rat has gone missing and he blames Hermione’s cat,” Cedric explained. “They’ve been fighting for about twenty minutes now.”

Harry let out a sigh of relief, not that he didn’t care about _Scabbers_ , but Ron and Hermione’s feud was getting old and at that moment, more important things filled his mind with dread.

“Harry, are you alright?” Cedric asked him as he put his hand on the younger boy’s forehead. “No offense, but you don’t look so good.”

“RIGHT?” Draco snapped. “That’s what I’ve been telling him all the way here, but he insists on going to Hagrid’s.”

“Hagrid’s?” Cedric inquired. “Whatever for?”

“He’s going through something, I think he needs to rely on someone,” Harry replied. “Are you coming?”

“Yeah,” Cedric said. “Let me tell the others.”

The others in question were taking sides in Ron and Hermione’s bickering, Blaise agreed that, despite his love for cats, _Crookshanks_ had proved to be after _Scabbers_ from the moment they met, and Pansy defended Hermione’s pet replying that as a cat, it was in its nature to be after a rat, and that _Crookshanks_ can’t be blamed for Ron not looking out enough for his pet. Theo tried to act as some kind of mediator and Neville sipped pumpkin juice in the background, but somehow Cedric had gotten his message through everyone’s yelling and now, instead of yelling in the Clock Tower’s Courtyard, they were yelling on their way to Hagrid’s Hut, threatening to destroy the wooden bridge with their decibels.

“Well, it’s not my cat’s fault that you’re such a- !“ Hermione started.

“Oh, but it is, everything is your cat’s fault!” Ron cut in. “ _Scabbers_ is dead and it’s all thanks to your cat!”

“Finish that sentence, Granger!” Blaise dared her. “What were you gonna call him, huh?”

“Oh, leave her alone!” Pansy cut in.

“Guys!” Neville called them. “Can you please, please shut up? All of you?”

Harry was thankful to Neville for making them shut up, after that, the only sound that could be heard as the creaking of the wood underneath them as they finished crossing the wooden bridge.

"Draco!" Crabbe greeted him as they arrived at the Stone Circle atop of the hill. “Here to finish what you started? I heard your daddy’s here to finish Hagrid’s beast off.”

“You’ll have to be careful, though,” Goyle warned him in an alarmingly caring tone. “I’m sure he won’t be too pleased to watch his heir hanging out with mudbloods and blood traitors.”

Draco drew out his wand and strode toward his former friends but Harry held him back from his arm.

“Awwww, how cute!” Crabbe cackled. “Your boyfriend doesn’t want you to leave.”

“He,” Draco started as he let go of Harry’s hold, “is not my boyfriend.”

“But you want him to be, don’t you?” Goyle teased. “Daddy won’t be too pleased about that either.”

“And why do you care about what my father will think of me or my friends?” Draco’s knuckles became white as his hand’s grip on his wand became tighter. “Is your father really that absent that you feel the need to put mine’s name on your filthy mouth?”

“You’re one to talk about absent fathers,” Goyle said. “Rumour has it he has not only abandoned you but your gold digger mother as well.”

“My mother is a Black,” Draco snarled. “She’s far from being a gold digger.”

“The Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black?” Crabbe scoffed. “Already a decadent family before having mass murderers among their ranks.”

No one said a thing, but they all knew who Crabbe was referring to. Sirius Black was Narcissa’s cousin, which made him Draco’s uncle.  
“Shut your filthy hole,” Draco pointed his wand at them.

“Draco, he’s not worth it,” Harry said softly trying to reach out to him.

“Listen to your boyfriend,” Crabbe said. “You don’t want to mess with us.”

“Maybe I do!” Draco dropped his wand and jumped at Crabbe punching him in the face.

Harry and Cedric tried to keep Goyle from joining the fight as Blaise and Pansy tried to separate Draco from Crabbe.

“Look at you! Fighting like a muggle.” Crabbe laughed as they tussled. “Granger must be proud!”

“I’ll show you what proud is!” Draco said as he punched him directly in the nose.

Blaise and Pansy finally managed to separate them but only because Crabbe had stopped tussling, he was too busy now rubbing his bloody nose.

“You broke his nose, you savage!” Goyle yelled as he helped Crabbe get up again.

“And if you appreciate yours you’ll shut up and leave right this instant!” Draco warned him almost rabid.

Goyle carried Crabbe on his shoulder and they watched them as they hurried back inside the castle.

“That was the most reckless, stupidest, and coolest thing you’ve ever done!” Harry kneeled down as he carefully held Draco’s hand. “Are you hurt?”

“His hand is covered in blood, of course he is,” Hermione said as she kneeled down.

“It’s not my blood,” Draco smiled softly.

Hermione chuckled and, with a swift wand movement, she swept off the blood from the blond’s hand.

“It’s a little bruised, but you’ll be alright,” Hermione said as she examined his friend’s hand. “You didn’t have to go all the way through, but thank you for defending us.”

“You’re my friends,” Draco said as he held Hermione’s hand. “Crabbe and Goyle will have to book an appointment at the Hospital Wing before even thinking of messing with my friends.”

“I’m sorry about the things they said about your family,” Blaise said as he helped the blond get up.

“Don’t be, they’re not.” Draco replied.

“I just hope they don’t cry out to Snape with some fake story to get you in trouble,” Nevilles said.

“Then I’ll tell Snape what I saw,” Cedric said. “I’m sure he’s more bound to believe in a prefect’s words than whatever blasphemy two half-troll idiots with brains the size of a peanut manage to spit out.”

“Thank you, Diggory,” Draco smiled soflty.

The group dragged their feet in silence for the rest of the way down to Hagrid’s Hut and when they got there, Harry respectfully patted the back of _Buckbeak_ ’s head before stepping up and knocking on Hagrid’s door three times.

“What are you doing here?” Hagrid’s eye peeked from behind the wooden door before opening it wide. “Come in, all of you. Hurry!”

Even though Dean and Seamus weren’t present on that occasion, the group was still a little cramped inside Hagrid’s Hut.

“What are you doing here?” Hagrid asked again.

“We saw the minister, Hagrid,” Harry said.

“And my father,” Draco added with his head low. “I’m sorry, Hagrid.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” Hagrid assured him. “They just want to make sure Buckbeak isn’t dangerous, right?”

“And we know he isn’t unless he isn’t treated properly,” Hermione gave a small nod to Draco. 

“You’ll have to keep an eye on Lucius Malfoy, though,” Ron said. “Sorry, Draco.”

“No, you’re right,” Draco agreed. “My father feels like this visit is a waste of time, I don’t doubt he’ll risk getting a hippogriff wound just to make it worth his while.”

“What an arse,” Cedric whispered to himself.

“You’ll have to watch out for him,” Draco warned him. “Whatever you do, don’t let him get too close to Buckbeak, don’t give him the chance to provoke him.”

Hagrid nodded at each and every one of the blond’s remarks as if he was making a mental note of everything that came out of his mouth.

“Everything will be alright, you’ll see,” Ron patted Hagrid’s back. “ _Buckbeak_ won’t be reuniting with _Scabbers_ anytime soon.”

“Reuniting?” Hagrid frowned.

“They’ve never even met!” Neville scoffed.

“Ron, your rat is not dead,” Hagrid told him.

“What are you talking about? Of course it is,” Ron said. “Hermione’s beast killed him.”

“My _Crookshanks_ wouldn’t do that!” Hermione said indignantly.

“I don’t know if he wouldn’t,” Hagrid said as he walked to the back of the room, “I just know that he didn’t.”

Hagrid crouched down and when he got up again he held a small iron cage on his hand that contained an all too familiar rat, Hagrid got the rat out and handed it to Ron as if it was a baby.

“ _Scabbers_!” Ron said excitedly. “You’re alive!”

“I think you owe someone an apology,” Pansy said.

“I’ll apologize to _Crookshanks_ when I see him,” Ron replied.

“I meant Hermione,” Pansy growled.

“I’m sure we’ll find times for apologies later,” Cedric cut in. “We need to leave.”

Cedric pointed with his finger to the window, Dumbledore, Fudge, and Lucius Malfoy could be seen getting closer to Hagrid’s Hut. Harry’s stomach churned, the last time that unusual combination of people was at Hagrid’s Hut he had been convicted to Azkaban.

“Everything will be fine, Hagrid,” Harry assured him as they sneaked one by one through the back door. “You’ll see.”

Hagrid gave them one last sad smile before closing the door on them. They hid behind the pumpkin patch, and the last thing that could be heard as Fudge, Malfoy, and Dumbledore entered Hagrid’s home was Malfoy complaining about the smell.

They hunched down and started climbing the hill back to the castle, but just as they intended to enter the wooden bridge, the large, black dog that Harry had seen multiple times before cut in on them.

“Come here, boy!” Harry called him, remembering their last interaction.

But the dog didn’t respond as expected, instead, it showed its teeth and started growling, the festive puppy that had greeted Harry after the Quidditch final was nowhere to be seen.

“Everyone, don’t move!” Harry whispered through his teeth.

The dog took advantage of everyone’s stillness and made the first move, it shot down Ron and bit his leg dragging him all the way down to the tunnel under the Whomping Willow while the redheaded boy held Scabbers in his arms and cried out in pain.

“We need to do something!” Blaise panicked.

“Go get Snape! Hurry!” Harry said. “We’ll follow him down the tunnel!”

“Snape?” Neville inquired, panic reflected on his face.

“Snape, McGonagall, ANYONE!” Draco replied. “Hurry!”

Blaise, Pansy, Theo, and Neville ran back inside the castle to get help as Cedric, Draco, Harry, and Hermione ran to the Whomping Willow, figuring out the safest way to get through it and inside the tunnel. But as they came closer to it, the tree started to shake its branches at them, in an attempt to knock them off.

“ _Immobilus!_ ” Hermione cried as she pointed her wand at the tree, slowing down its movements. “Come on!”

The three boys followed the girl inside the tunnel and Cedric conjured a dim blue light on the tip of his wand as they dived in the darkness of the tunnel’s insides.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter on the comments below.  
> I'm already working on the next chapter.


	25. The Tale of Moony and Padfoot.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ambushed by Sirius Black, Harry and his friends are told the story behind his father's old gang until an intruder cuts in on them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year, everyone! I hope you had a lovely time however you chose to spend this holiday.   
> Here's a slightly longer chapter.

**Chapter 25:**   
**The Tale of Moony and Padfoot.**

Harry knew from Ron's tales how terrified he was by the Shrieking Shack, England’s most haunted building. Ron had told him that, a few years ago, constant screaming, howling, and strident laughter could be heard from the Shrieking Shack all the way to Hogsmeade, but right there and then, just as the tunnel's trapdoor had led them inside the Shrieking Shack all that could be heard from the bottom floor was Ron's uncontrollable sobbing.

“His poor leg,” Hermione lamented quietly. 

Harry was the first one to step foot on the staircase that led upstairs and Cedric was the first one to follow, he held Harry's hand as they climbed each step with Draco and Hermione behind them. Harry’s chest went up and down, and, at first, he thought Cedric had held his hand to comfort him, but, to Harry, they seemed equally frightened. 

As they reached the top floor, they encountered an old wooden door, and, judging by the clarity of Ron's sobbing, Harry could swear his red-headed friend was behind said door, perhaps he had locked himself in for his safety, perhaps the dog was already gone. 

After taking a deep breath, Harry pushed through the wooden door and, as it creaked open, they caught sight of their friend and his bloody leg.

“Ron!” Harry called as they all ran to his side. “Are you alright?”

“You need to leave, all of you, now!” Ron panicked, holding _Scabbers_ on his lap. “He is an animagus, it’s a trap!”

But before anyone could say anything the door slammed shut revealing someone to be behind it the whole time. Everyone gasped at the sight of Sirius Black, the man by his parents' side on his photo album was long gone, and while he didn't look as terrible as he did in his wanted poster (he had, no doubt in Harry's mind, recovered a little from being away from the dementors for the past few months), he certainly didn't look good. 

“ _Expelliarmus!_ ” Black wielded Ron's hand and everyone's wands jumped at his feet. 

Black walked closer to them with his eyes on Harry.

“I figured you'd come to your friend's rescue, “ Black said calmly. “James would have done the same for me.”

“How dare you say his name?!” Harry snarled.

“Harry!” Hermione whimpered. 

“My parents are dead because of him, Hermione!” Harry said angrily as he got up.

He wished he had his wand in his hand, not to defend himself, not to defender his friends, but to attack, to kill Sirius Black once and for all. After debating himself for a quick second, he figured his bare hands would have to do.

“Harry, don’t!” Draco and Cedric yelled as they somehow managed to held him back. 

“If you want to kill Harry,” Ron said fiercely ignoring his leg's pain, “you'll have to kill us all.”

“Don't use your leg,” Black advised him with a hint of care in his voice. “You'll thank me later.”

“Did you hear me?” Ron spat. “You'll have to kill the five of us!”

“There's only going to be one death tonight,” Black said eerily. 

“And it’s going to be yours!” Harry jumped at him. 

Maybe Black didn't see it coming, Harry was after all quite small, perhaps he thought the boy would be terrified of him, that he would surrender quickly, give no fight, but that certainly didn’t happen, Harry had charged him, they were both on the floor, Harry on top of him punching him on the face. 

“Are you going to kill me, Harry?” Sirius asked as he let go of everyone’s wands.

“You killed my parents,” Harry said coldly as he got up, he threw their friend's wands at Hermione and he wielded his. 

“And I won’t deny it,” Blackreplied with his head low. “But you need to hear the full story first.”

“The full story?” Harry scoffed. “You betrayed my parents, they’re dead because of you. That's all I need to know.”

“I need you to listen to me,” Black almost pleaded with a hint of sadness in his voice. “You’ll regret it if you don’t… you don’t understand.”

“I understand more than you think,” Harry replied with a shaky voice. “You've never heard her. My mother, begging Voldemort not to kill me.”

Before Harry, or anyone else for that matter, could say anything, something orange flashed before them, _Crookshaks_ , Hermione’s cat had appeared out of nowhere and had jumped to Black's arms, who held him like a baby, Hermione gasped in horror. 

“You need to leave,” Black hummed quietly at the cat, but the cat limited himself to turn his head at Harry.   
There was something in that scene that enraged Harry even more, Harry didn’t care about the stupid cat. He pointed his wand at Black, he wanted him dead, and if he had to get through Hermione’s cat first then so be it. 

A few seconds passed, the room was dead silent, Harry looked at his friends from the corner of his eye, Ron was lying on an old couch with his wounded leg up, _Scabbers_ laid on his lap, shivering, Hermione was standing up, but she looked as if her legs would betray her at any given moment, Draco and Cedric sat at the feet of Ron's old couch, Harry couldn’t see much from where he was standing without completely turning his head at them, but he could swear Draco and Cedric were holding on to each other. 

Just as Harry began to wonder where was the help they had asked the others to get, something reached Harry's ears: muffled steps could be heard on the floor underneath them. 

“WE'RE UP HERE!” Draco yelled. “SIRIUS BLACK! HURRY!”

Draco’s scream startled Black, who almost dropped Hermione’s cat. The steps could be heard climbing the steps in a hurry until the door slammed open, Professor Lupin gave everyone a quick look before staring at Harry and Black. 

“ _Expelliarmus!_ ” Lupin cried. 

Harry’s wand and the ones Hermione held flew from their hands and Lupin caught them all, he then stared at Black for a second before running into his arms in an embrace that, in another world, Harry would have found endearing. 

“Where is he, Sirius?” Lupin panted before kissing Black's cheek. 

“Right there,” Black pointed at Ron's lap. 

“NO!” Hermione roared standing in front of Ron. 

Both Lupin and Black's gaze turned to Hermione. 

“Y-you and him!” Hermione yelled indignantly. 

“Hermione, calm down,” Lupin tried to say.

“No, don't you dare tell me what to do!” Hermione said fiercely. “I covered for you, I never said a thing!”

“Hermione, listen to me, please!” Lupin pleaded. “I can explain.”

“I trusted you,” Harry shouted at Lupin. “And all this time you've been with him!"

Harry started trembling, he shared his friend's anger.   
“You’re all mistaken,” Lupin tried to say. “Sirius and I haven’t been together in twelve years, let me explain.”

“No, Harry, don’t listen to him,” Hermione cut in. “He's been helping Black get inside the castle, he probably wants to kill you too, he is a werewolf!”

“It’s true!” Draco stood up. “We know what you are!”  
“I haven’t helped Sirius in any way, and I can assure you, Harry, that I don’t want to kill you,” Lupin said. “But I won’t deny I’m a werewolf.”

Ron tried to leave the couch but just as he stood up he fell on his wounded leg and Lupin hurried to aid him.   
“Don't you dare touch him, lycanthrope!” Cedric cried as he helped Ron back on the couch. 

Lupin then turned to Hermione and Draco with a sad look on his face. 

“For how long have you known?” Lupin asked them.   
“Ages,” Draco hissed. 

“Since Snape's parchments,” Hermione said coldly. 

“He'll be pleased,” Lupin chuckled softly to hide his dreariness. “He left that assignment in hopes that someone would find out about my condition, no doubt. What gave me away, did you check the moon cycle and noticed I always called in sick during a full moon? Or was it my boggart turning into the moon.”

“Both,” Hermione replied. 

“You two are very clever,” Lupin faked laughter. “You're perhaps the brightest witch of your age, Hermione.”

“Not bright enough, evidently,” Hermione said. “If I was I would have already told everyone about you!”

“They already know,” Lupin said. “The staff at least.”

“And Dumbledore still hired you?” Ron intervened. “Is he mad?”

“Some people think he is,” Lupin replied. “He had to convince certain professors that I could be trusted.”

“AND HE WAS WRONG!” Harry roared. “YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM THE ENTIRE TIME!”

“I have not, let me prove it to you,” Lupin separated each wand and threw them back to their owners. “Five against two, will you listen to me now?”

“If you haven’t been helping him,” Harry said. “How did you know he was here?”

“The Marauder's Map,” Lupin explained. “I was in my office examining it when I…”

“Do you know how to use it?” Harry cut in. 

“Of course I do, I helped in its creation,” Lupin replied. “I am Moony, that’s how my friends nicknamed me back in my school days.”

“So that means…”

“My point is,” Lupin interrupted him. “I had a feeling that, with Lucius Malfoy and Fudge here, you might want to visit Hagrid.”

“What does that has to do with anything?” Cedric hissed. 

“When you and your friends crossed paths with Sirius someone else was with you,” Lupin said. “Someone I had convinced myself for years was dead.”

“There was no one with us,” Ron replied in confusion. 

“Ron,” Lupin called him. “May I see your rat?”

“What? No!” He hissed. “What does Scabbers has to do with anything?”

“Everything,” Lupin replied. “May I see your rat, please?”

Ron hesitated but he passed Scabbers, who started screeching like crazy, onto Lupin's hands. 

“It's just a rat!” Draco cried. 

“It’s not a rat,” Black said eerily. “It’s a wizard.”

“An animagus,” Lupin corrected him. “One called Peter Pettigrew.”

“But that’s absurd!” Ron said. “Scabbers has been with our family for- "

“Twelve years?” Black inquired. “Come on, Remus, give him to me.”

“Not yet, Sirius,” Lupin said. “It's Ron’s pet, he needs to understand, and Harry, Harry needs to know the truth.”

“Alright,” Sirius sighed. “But do it quickly, I want to commit the murder for which I was locked away.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Ron said standing up. 

“You’ll listen to what I have to say until I finish,” Lupin said as he returned Scabbers to Ron's lap as a sign of trust. “And hold Peter tightly as you listen.”

“IT’S NOT PETER, IT'S SCABBERS!” Ron snapped. 

“There were muggle witnesses that watched him murder Pettigrew,” Harry told Remus. 

“They didn’t watch, they believed they did,” Sirius cut in as he eyed the rat on Ron's lap. 

“Everyone believed Sirius killed Peter,” Lupin said. “Even I did, for the longest time, and it caused me great sorrow, but today I saw his name on the map, and you’ve seen it too, Harry. The map is never wrong.”

Suddenly everyone gave up their fight as they listened closely to their Professor's words. 

“Peter Pettigrew is alive,” Lupin said. “And he's sitting on Ron's lap.”

“But he surely can’t be an animagus.” Cedric intervened. 

“And why is that, Mr. Diggory?” Lupin inquired. 

“Because I have studied the Ministry's Animagi Registry.” Cedric replied. “And Peter Pettigrew's name is nowhere to be seen.”

“That's true,” Lupin agreed. “But the Ministry does not have knowledge on three animagi.”

“Oh?”

“Werewolves are only dangerous to humans, you see” Lupin explained. “That's why my best friends, Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, and your father, Harry, James Potter joined me every full moon in their animagi form to keep me company in what was for me a very painful time.”

“We were schoolboys, Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs, ” Sirius added. “Schoolboys who somehow managed to learn how to become animagi, we never registered, in the beginning we were just making a friend company.”

“What fond memories,” a familiar voice sneered. 

Severus Snape was standing by the door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter on the comments below.


	26. Prongs.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All hell breaks loose after Harry learns the truth about the night his parents died.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is finally here! I hope you like it.   
> There are perhaps one or two chapters left.

**Chapter 26:**   
**Prongs.**

For Draco, who was still not sold on the veracity behind Lupin and Black's words, Snape's arrival was just what he had been praying for for the last forty minutes, for Harry, who had a hunger for truth, it was nothing but unfortunate. 

“ _Expelliarmus!_ ” Lupin's wand flew to Snape's hand. 

“As always, Snivellus,” Sirius started, “you don’t understand the affairs in which you decide to bury your gigantic nose.”

“The only affair here is the fact that you, a criminal,” Snape drew his wand, “with the help of your boyfriend, no less, are holding captive five underage wizards.”

“Severus, you don’t understand,” Lupin tried to say. 

“I understand more than you seem to believe, Lupin,” Snape said dryly. “I found the most curious thing when I made a quick visit to your office earlier today, I meant to give you today's potion, but instead, I found a map laid on your desk, and when I saw you sneaking under the Whomping Willow I knew there could only be someone there waiting for you.”

That means Blaise, Theo, Pansy, and Neville had not got to him, Harry thought. 

“Severus, let me explain,” Lupin almost begged him. “You're being a childish.”

“The only explaining you’ll do is before the entirety of the Wizengamot,” Snape scoffed. “As for you, Black, I believe there are quite a number of dementors very eager to kiss you.”

Snape looked directly into Harry's eyes, he had a look of complicity in his eyes, behind his pride he did thought he was doing the right thing. He was waiting for them to leave the room so he could take Lupin and Sirius back to the castle behind them, as prisoners, but Harry hadn't heard the entirety of what Lupin and Black had to say, and while he still wasn’t convinced it was the truth, that was the only chance he would get to unveil the full picture of what happened the night his parents died. 

“ _Expelliarmus!_ ” Harry, along with two voices behind him, shouted and Snape flew across the room.

“YOU ATTACKED A PROFESSOR!” Draco cried. 

Harry looked behind him, both Cedric and Hermione had their wands drawn, they had helped him, but the horrified look on their faces showed instant regret. 

“Is he d-dead?” Hermione’s lip trembled at the thought. 

“No,” Lupin said as he crouched besides Snape's body.“He's only lost consciousness.”

“Tell me about Pettigrew,” Harry demanded. 

There was no time to lose, if his friends had not gone to Snape then there was still a chance they had gone to McGonagall, and while he liked the Head of Gryffindor, he wasn't sure she would have consideration for Sirius' tale if she ended up showing up. 

“Your parents, Harry, married shortly after graduating from Hogwarts,” Sirius said. “And not many years after that you were born.”

“Voldemort was getting stronger by the day,” Lupin added. “He was gaining more and more followers.”

“Our dear friend Peter among them,” Black said bitterly. “We didn’t know of course.”

“But I don't understand,” Harry said. “You admitted to have sold my parents to Voldemort earlier.”

“I good as killed them, Harry,” Black's voice was filled with regret. 

Everyone kept quiet and all that could be heard was Scabbers' screeching, almost as if the rat knew they were close to outing its true nature. 

“I convinced your parents to name Peter their Secret-Keeper,” Black said. “James wanted it to be me, but I thought that naming Peter would throw Voldemort off, I was, of course, in the dark regarding Peter's true allegiance.”

“But what about the muggles?” Harry asked. “And the street you supposedly blew up?”

“The day after Voldemort's demise was a day full of celebrations for most people, but not for me,” Black stared at the air, as if the memories suddenly flooded his mind. “I had just lost two of my best friends, and Dumbledore, ignoring James and Lily's wishes dropped you off at the Dursleys' instead of letting me keep you.”

Harry stared into Black's eyes, he had heard that part of the story from Hagrid at The Three Broomsticks a few months ago. 

“I had nothing left,” Black said. “But I knew that if Voldemort had killed your parents, then Peter, as their Secret-Keeper must have revealed their location, so I confronted him.”

“And you killed him,” Harry said, remembering the tale he had heard from Fudge's mouth. 

“I wanted to, but little Peter here outsmarted me,” Black told him. “It was him who blew up that street, it was him who killed all those muggles, and in the last moment, to blame it all on me, he sliced his finger off and turned into a rat.”

“Give him the rat,” Harry told Ron. 

“Harry, it’s just _Scabbers_ ,” Ron tried to say. 

“And if it’s just _Scabbers_ then you had nothing to worry about,” Harry said. “But if he’s telling the truth, that’s the only way to know.”

Ron gave up, Sirius was starting to walk his way, he didn’t look so scary anymore, but before Ron could give him the rat, _Scabbers_ bit his hand and jumped from his hands. 

“The wands, quickly!” Sirius told Remus. 

Remus grabbed both his and Snape's wand from the floor and threw Snape's wand at Sirius, they looked insane throwing nameless spells to the floor like that, and without context, Harry would have thought they were actually mad, but they were only trying to hit the rat with one of them. 

“ _Scabbers_!” Ron cried. “Please, be careful!”

One of Sirius spells had hit just as Ron's words echoed through the room, in _Scabbers_ ' place stood a man, a very short man, with very few, blond, almost colorless hair on the top of his head, his face kept a few rat-like features, but that was to be expected Harry thought, after twelve years posing as a rat. 

“Sirius, Remus!” Pettigrew greeted them as if nothing had happened. “My dear friends!”

Sirius jumped through the room and charged Peter, they had landed on the floor were Sirius started punching his former friend's face with fury.

“You sold Lily and James to Voldemort!” Sirius continued punching him. “Say it! Confess!”

“I-I don’t know w-what you’re taking about,” Pettigrew managed to spat with a hint of a mischievous smile on his face. 

“Professor!” Harry cried. “He's gonna kill him!”

“And isn’t that what you want, Harry?” Remus asked him. “This man sold your parents to Voldemort.”

Harry then realised that Remus and Sirius' intention from the beginning wasn’t only to uncover the truth, but to avenge their best friends as well, his parents. 

“I know what he did, thanks to you,” Harry muttered. “But if he dies, if you kill him, the truth dies with him.”

Both Sirius and Pettigrew stared at Harry, Sirius looked stunned and Pettigrew looked almost thankful. 

“Don't you want to be free, Sirius?” It was the first time Harry had called his godfather by his name. 

“W-what do you suggest we do with him then?” Sirius stammered. 

“We should take him to the castle,” Harry said. “And get him kissed by the dementors.”

The thankful expression Pettigrew had on his face wiped off completely as Harry's words resonated inside his ears. 

“That’s settled then,” Lupin said as he walked closer to them. “We should go to the castle.”

“And what about Snape?” Draco asked. “Are we just going to leave him there?”

“Of course not,” Remus scoffed. “Severus is coming with us.”

And just like that, Lupin conjured two silver ropes that hung from the tip of his wand, one attached himself onto Snape's feet and the other embraced Pettigrew into a tight knot that unabled him to move. 

The floorboards of the Shrieking Shack creaked as they descended the stairs' steps, Sirius helped Ron down the stairwell because of his wounded leg, much to Ron's horror, who had not yet recovered from the terrible shock that was his rat turning into a grown man who happened to be a treacherous murderer. 

“Mr. Black?” Hermione cleared her throat shyly. “What's your business with _Crookshanks_?”

Sirius chuckled at the way Hermione addressed him. _Crookshanks_ walked in front of all of them, as if he was leading that unusual committee out of the Whomping Willow's tunnel. 

“ _Crookshanks_ saw right through me since the beginning,” Sirius said. “He saw right through Wormtail as well.”

“Oh?”

“He knew I wasn’t a real dog the same way he knew Peter wasn't a real rat,” Sirius explained. “He’s been a real ally to me since the beginning.”

Hermione chuckled lightly at the thought of her pet having a secret life. 

“Mr. Black? Sirius, sir?” Ron called him, his arm was around Sirius shoulder as he relied on him to walk. 

“Sirius is fine,” he said. 

“Sirius,” Ron grunted through the pain. “How did you know about _Scabbe_ \- I mean, Peter?”

“In one of Fudge's last visits to Azkaban he went to visit me up in my cell,” Sirius told him. “He had a copy of the Daily Prophet on him, you and your family were in the cover, and I usually wouldn’t have cared about the Weasleys' touristic rendezvous, trust me, but then I saw Peter, hidden between your arms, peeking at the camera and I knew I had to do something.”

Ron gulped at Sirius’ answer, he could have never imagined that a photo who once brought him so much joy would have prompted the revelations made to them in the last hour.

When they got out of the tunnel they noticed the sky had adopted a darker shade of blue, the full moon shined upon them and the breathtaking view that was Hogwarts could be seen at the distance. Sirius broke away from the group and Harry followed him.

“All these years all I ever wanted was to get through those doors again,” Sirius said. “As a free man, of course.”

“Is that why you broke inside the castle?” Harry asked him.

“No, I did that because I wanted to see you,” Sirius admitted.

“The mess you made in the Portrait Hallway has haunted me all year, you know?” Harry joked. 

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Sirius chuckled. “I had only been down at the Slytherin common room a few times back in my day, I’m sure the password has changed countless times since then.”

“You've been at my common room?” Harry asked him, impressed. 

“My little brother, Regulus, was in Slytherin as well,” Sirius had a nostalgic smile on his face. “He sneaked me in a few times before everything went to hell.”

“What do you mean?”

“The war,” Sirius inhaled sharply. “Regulus was a good boy, a nice boy, unlike most Slytherins I met at the time, but he didn’t always make the best choices.”

Harry noticed Regulus seemed like a delicate subject for Sirius to address, he wondered if asking more about him would be seen as disrespectful since Sirius talked about him as if he was dead. 

“He made it into his House's quidditch team even.” Sirius told him. “He was a seeker.”

“Really? I’m a seeker too!” Harry smiled at him.

“I know, and a very good one,” Sirius smiled back at him. “I've been attending some of your matches, you know? How’s the _Firebolt_ by the way?”

“How do you know about th- ” Harry stopped for a moment. “It was you! But how?”

“When I heard about your accident I knew I had to do something,” Sirius said. 

Harry could hug Sirius right there and then, but he restrained himself from doing so. 

“Well… thank you,” Harry said awkwardly. “You shouldn’t have.”

“You're right, but I wanted to,” Sirius said. “In a way, I wanted to compensate for all my years of absence.”

Harry stared at the man, puzzled. 

“I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this, Harry,” Sirius sighed. “But your parents made me your godfather.”

“I know, I overheard Fudge and McGonagall once at The Three Broomsticks,” Harry replied. “I was under the Invisibility Cloak.”

Sirius looked at Harry and then chuckled in disbelief. 

“This may sound silly,” Sirius inhaled sharply, “but I have a family house, back in London, and I was thinking that perhaps, after this is all over, we could live together.”

Harry's eyes widened. 

“I understand if you don’t want to, of course,” Sirius added. “I know you’re currently living with your aunt and uncle under Dumbledore's orders and- ”

“I'm not,” Harry cut in. 

“I’m sorry, what?” 

“I received a letter a few months ago,” Harry started. “They don’t want me there anymore, they kicked me out.”

Sirius' face lit up in anger. 

“Those damn muggles,” he muttered to himself. “And what did Dumbledore say about that?”

“He doesn’t know,” Harry replied. “No one does.”

“Not even your friends?”

“I didn’t want to worry them,” Harry replied quietly. 

“And what were you planning on doing?” Sirius inquired in disbelief. “Become a beggar until September?”

“Staying at the Leaky Cauldron over the summer, actually,” Harry said. 

“No, that won’t do,” Sirius dismissed him. “I'm talking to Dumbledore after this is all over and you’ll be staying with me.”

Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“If that’s what you want, of course,” Sirius said. “I would love to get to know my godson, and I'd be honoured to give you a home.”

Harry wanted to say yes, he barely knew him, but with the truth out, there was something in him that made Harry want to trust him. To Harry, Sirius already was more like his family than the Dursleys ever were. He wanted to say yes, but judging by Hermione’s scream they had some more urgent matters to attend to.

They turned their heads at the group behind him, the scene was so chaotic it could pass as a Renaissance painting: The full moom shined bright upon them, upon Remus Lupin specially, who’s clothes started to tear as he slowly transformed into a werewolf. He had dropped his wand and the enchantment that kept Pettigrew nice and trapped wore off, Sirius had to debate himself between aiding his boyfriend or go after the man responsible for his misery, he opted for the first. 

“Remus, Remus, dear!” Sirius called him as he embraced the Professor’s face in his hands. “Did you forget to take your potion?”

Lupin howled in response, the transformation was almost over.

“Professor Snape said he was bringing the potion to his office earlier today before following him all the way here!” Draco said as he instinctly grabbed Harry from his arm. 

Remus howled once last time and where once stood a man now stood a wolf, his eyes, now darker than the ones they were accustomed to, stared into Sirius' but didn’t recognise him. 

“Remus?” Sirius called softly. 

Lupin hit him with his paw instead, running free off Sirius' grip. Sirius grunted before transforming into a dog, he followed behind Remus' trail. 

“Sirius!” Harry called him, but it was too late, he couldn’t hear him. 

“Seems like I won’t be meeting with the dementors after all,” Pettigrew giggled, he intended to turn into a rat, he intended to flee once again. 

“ _Petrificus Totalus!_ ” Severus Snape's deep voice yelled from behind them.

Wormtail fell to the floor, frozen and mid-transformation, while Snape ran up to them.

“We’ll settle scores later,” Snape said. “But for now, get behind me.”

Ron laid on the floor as his leg prevented him from getting up, but the rest of them, Harry, Draco, Cedric and Hermione stood behind Snape's tall figure. 

“Professor Snape!” Professor McGonagall called him as she ran towards them, clearly agitated. “What’s all this?”

Blaise, Theo, Pansy and Neville stood behind Professor McGonagall.

“Took them long enough,” Draco gritted through his teeth. 

“Severus” McGonagall sighed as he finally reached him. “Would you care to explain to me what in Merlin's name is going on?”

But before a single word could leave Snape's mouth McGonagall shrieked in horror. 

“I-is that P-Peter Pettigrew?” McGonagall asked in disbelief. 

“Professor,” Cedric intervened. “With all due respect, Peter Pettigrew is the least of our problems right now.”

“Professor Lupin didn’t take his potion today,” Draco cut in. “He's under the effects of the full moon.”

“And Sirius!” Harry yelled. “He’s gone after Professor Lupin in an attempt to help him!”

“Sirius Black is here?” McGonagall gasped. “We must get Dumbledore and the minister here at once.”

“Professor, you've seen Pettigrew!” Harry exclaimed. “I don’t have time to explain, but if Pettigrew is alive then Sirius is innocent, we have to help him!”

“I believe you Potter, but even if Mr. Black is inboxent it is still too dangerous to get too close to Professor Lupin in the state he's in,” McGonagall said with a grim expression on his face. “There’s nothing we can do.”

“We have to try!” Harry said as he broke free of Snape's grip and ran off to where he last saw Sirius and Remus. 

“Potter! Come back here at once!” Harry heard McGonagall yell in the distance, but he didn’t obey her. 

As he ran, Harry heard some steps behind him and he ran faster. 

“He’s my godfather, Professor!” Harry cried. “I have to help him!”

“Harry, it's us!” Cedric called him.

Harry stopped for a moment and turned around, Draco, Cedric and Hermione. 

“We're helping you,” Hermione said. 

“You three have already attacked Snape earlier today,” Draco said. “I say disobeying McGonagall is the lesser sin.”

“Let's hurry then,” Harry said. 

Lupin's howls led them to him, they were by the lake, and the four of them ran as fast as they could toward them.

Lupin was out of control, he was being aggressive toward Sirius even in his dog form, Sirius looked seriously injured and just as Harry and their friends arrived at the shoreline he changed back into his human form, he looked exhausted, frail. 

“Hey!” Harry yelled to catch the werewolf's attention. 

“Harry, that wasn’t very smart,” Hermione whispered. 

Lupin stopped attacking Sirius and was now staring at them.

“Everyone, don’t move,” Cedric said. 

But it was too late, Harry had thrown a rock right into Lupin's face and now he was running at them as fast as he could, showing his teeth, but he stopped and looked up to the sky just before attacking them. The air turned colder and the surface of the lake started to turn into ice, everyone knew what that meant.   
Lupin whimpered soflty before fleeing into the Forbidden Forest. 

“Harry, we have to get out of here!” Hermione cried. 

“You go!” Harry said as he crouched beside Sirius' body. “I can't leave him.”

“Then we won’t leave you,” Cedric said as he walked toward him.

They all gathered around Sirius and Harry, shivering, the dementors were getting closer to them, and they weren't few, they were too many to count. 

“Don't be scared,” Harry got up and drew his wand. “Just think happy things and do as I do.”

“Easier said than done,” Draco murmured. 

“ _Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum!_ ” Harry cried and a silver mist started to form around them, but it wasn’t enough, there were too many dementors. “Come on! Help me!”

“ _Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum!_ ” Harry heard his friends yell in desperation.

“Harry, it's not working!” Draco panicked. 

“We need to try harder, please! Think happy things!” Harry begged them. “ _Expecto Patronum!_ ”

Draco had been the first to faint and Hermione followed. They were surrounded by dementors and they were each taking turns sucking their joy. 

“Come on, Ced!” Harry pleaded. “ _Expecto Patronum!_ ”

“I'm trying, Harry, I'm trying!” Cedric sobbed. “I'm sorry.”

“No, Cedric, NO!” Harry cried, but it was too late, Cedric had fainted too and now the only thing between the dementors and them was Harry. 

“Anyone, PLEASE!” Harry whimpered. 

A dementor had cut in on him and Harry stumbled on his feet.

This is it, he thought.

I've doomed us all.

He salted the ground with his tears and with what was left of his strength he got up.

One last try, he thought to himself. 

“ _EXPECTO PATRONUM!_ ” Harry yelled with his wand drawn. 

He thought of his friends mainly, sleigh rides with them over the frozen lake, his head on Draco's chest after he kissed him goodnight, reuniting with Ron and Hermione at the Leaky Cauldron after a long summer, Cedric kissing his cheek in the dark at the Portrait Hallway. He had to try harder for them. He had gotten them into that situation and he was going to get them out as well. 

A thicker silver mist escaped Harry's wand and the dementors started to back off. The mist flew in circles around them, protecting them from all fronts when suddenly it gathered itself in a silver orb in front of him. It took a few seconds but the orb transformed into a figure, it transformed into a deer, a majestic silver deer. 

Harry swished his wand again and the deer went after all the dementors, trotting in the wind, confining them to the sky.

We’re alive, Harry sighed before joining Sirius and his friends on the floor.

We’re alive, he thought before closing his eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I skipped through all of the time-turner plot, please don't come for me.  
> Let me know your thoughts on this chapter on the comments below.


	27. The Hippogriff's Flight.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is sent to the Infirmary after everything they've been through, apologies are accepted, mistakes are forgiven, Sirius finally gets a fair trial and Fudge gets, deservedly, dragged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters today because I know I haven't been as constant as I intended to, I hope you like it!

**Chapter 27:**  
 **The Hippogriff's Flight.**

Harry opened his eyes to the all too familiar vaulted ceiling of the Hospital Wing, he had had the weirdest dream about Sirius Black, his friends and himself hanging out by the lake when a wolf and followed by a bunch of dementors cut in on them, the weirdest dream indeed.

“Madame Pomfrey! He's awake now!” Hermione groaned on the bed beside him.

Harry gasped, it wasn’t a dream.

“Quick, Mr. Potter, drink this,” Madame Pomfrey had shoved a cup of hot chocolate down his throat.

“Excuse me, Madame Pomfrey,” Harry cleared his throat as he got up.

“Oh, don’t get up, child!” she scolded him. “You were just attacked by a hundred dementors, you should be glad you and your friends still have a soul!”

“And Sirius?” Harry asked. 

“What about him?” Madame Pomfrey raised an eyebrow. 

“Does he still has a… you know,” Harry gulped, “does he still has a soul?”

“He does,” Madame Pomfrey gave him a reassuring smile. “All thanks to you, I’m told.”

“Really?” Harry asked.

“Professors McGonagall and Snape saw you conjure a full-body Patronus as they trotted on their way to help you,” she said. “Very impressive magic for someone your age, Mr. Potter.”

“And what about Cedric and Draco?” Harry asked. “Are they alright?”

“On the bed on your right, you dummy,” Cedric called him.

“Oh, Ced,” Harry threw himself onto the older boy. “I'm so sorry for what I put you through, for what I put all of you through,” Harry gave Hermione a quick glance. 

“It's alright, Harry,” Cedric embraced Harry's face into his hands. “You were just trying to save Sirius.”

“Mr. Potter, I'd love for you to return to your bed,” Madame Pomfrey said bitterly. 

“Right, sorry,” Harry said as he climbed back on his bed. “Is Draco up yet?”

“Not yet, but he’ll wake up anytime now,” Madame Pomfrey replied. “It's Mr. Malfoy I'm worried about.”

“Oh?”

“I sent word for him half an hour ago and he's still not here,” Madame Pomfrey said indignantly. “I was told he was at the grounds today because of the whole affair with Hagrid's hippogriff but it is as if he vanished into thin air.”

“Ministry issues, I guess?” Harry said.

“‘Ministry issues'? Don’t make me laugh, child,” Madame Pomfrey scoffed. “Both Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew are in trial right now in an improvised Wizengamot session at the Charms classroom! If anything he should be here, Merlin knows his son needs him.”

Harry couldn’t help but remember Trelawney's prediction, “tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master...” But, if Wormtail was currently at the Charms classroom, who could the prophecy mean? Harry had heard the whispers about the Malfoys siding with the Dark Lord during the war, so, could Lucius, who was nowhere to be seen when his own son and heir needed him the most, be the servant Trelawney's prophecy talked about?

“What kind of father? Honestly,” Madame Pomfrey kept complaining to herself. 

“A very bad one at being a father,” Draco groaned in the back of the room as he got up. 

“Oh, Mr. Malfoy, don’t get up!” Madame Pomfrey ran to the blond's side. “Here, drink this!”

Poppy Pomfrey handed Draco a cup of hot chocolate which the blond sipped happily. 

“Is everyone alright?” Draco asked as he took a break from sipping hot chocolate. 

“I think so,” Hermione said. “Are you?”

“Yeah, just a little lightheaded,” Draco shrugged it off. 

The Hospital Wing's doors suddenly burst open, Arthur and Molly Weasley followed by Celine Diggory and Narcissa Malfoy had entered the room.

“My son! Where’s my son?” Molly Weasley hollered as she ran across the room.

“The bed in the back of the room,” Poppy said. “His leg was badly injured but he'll be alright in no time, he's under a sedative spell.”

“Oh, Ceddy, are you alright?” Celine asked as she sat on the chair beside his son's bed. Draco and Harry snorted at Cedric's nickname. 

“Harry, Hermione, how are you two feeling?” Arthur Weasley walked up to them.

“Better, sir, thank you,” Harry said and Hermione nodded.

Harry glanced at the back of the room, Narcissa Malfoy was already sitting on the chair beside Draco's bed, caressing his son’s blond hair as he sipped every last remnant of hot chocolate inside the cup.

“And how are you feeling, Draco?” Narcissa asked softly. 

“Better now, mum,” Draco replied. “Where's father? I thought he was here, at Hogwarts.”

“No one knows where your father is,” Narcissa sighed. “From what I've been told, he left the minister hanging in the middle of the hippogriff's examination.”

“And from what we've been told,” Molly Weasley cut in. “You kids have been up to no good as of lately.”

“Proving a convict's innocence, unmasking an animagus, getting attacked by dementors,” Arthur Weasley listed their latest adventures. “You should start letting the adults handle these things.”

“Oh, we'd love to, Mr. Weasley, believe me,” Harry replied bitterly. 

Arthur Weasley blushed, that was perhaps not his brightest move, but before he could say anything else, shouting started to be heard outside the Infirmary's doors.

“The verdict is dictated, Cornelius!” Dumbledore said. “You've already been told what happened both tonight and twelve years ago! Let those kids rest!”

“I've been told everything regarding Black’s innocence and Pettigrew's crimes, yes!” Fudge replied furiously. “But since you've kept me in the dark about Remus Lupin's condition you leave me no choice but to get my information elsewhere.”

“With all due respect, minister,” Snape's unmistakable monotonous voice could he heard across the wooden doors, “are you planning on getting said insight from thirteen year old children?”

“If I have to!” Fudge yelled as he slammed the doors open.

“Minister! This is an Infirmary, not a circus!” Madame Pomfrey scolded Fudge as soon as he set foot inside the Hospital Wing. 

“You’ll have to forgive me, Poppy, but I need to talk with these children,” Fudge dismissed her. 

“You already know everything you need to know!” Dumbledore told Fudge. “Severus has been brewing the Wolfsbane Potion for Remus every full moon, if he didn’t drink it today is to be blamed solely on the extraordinary nature of this day's events!”

“Harry, dear boy,” Fudge addressed him ignoring Dumbledore's wishes. “Did Remus Lupin so much as snarled at you?”

“Professor Remus Lupin did not attack me, or any of us, if that's what you’re asking, minister,” Harry replied without skipping a beat. “Unlike the pack of dementors you have set free on the school’s grounds.”

“A preventive measure against- ”

“Against an innocent man,” Harry interrupted him, “as I’m sure you know by now.”

“Well, of course,” Fudge blurted. “The evidence in favour of Black’s innocence is overwhelming.”

“Then I don’t think you should worry about Professor Lupin,” Harry said. “He is, after all, the most competent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher we’ve ever had.”

“I-I suppose so,” Fudge stammered.

“And instead,” Harry added, “you should worry about not imprisoning innocent men.”

Harry had dragged Cornelius Fudge through the mud, it was only fitting that Narcissa Malfoy broke the silence that reigned in the room ever since. 

“What’s this I hear about a verdict?” Narcissa asked. 

“Oh, your cousin, Mrs. Malfoy, has been cleared of all charges,” Fudge beamed at her. “He is now a free man.”

“And what of Pettigrew?” Harry asked. 

“Goodness, you are informed,” Fudge chuckled uncomfortably. “Peter Pettigrew has been tried for his crimes and the Wizengamot has declared him guilty of the charges of treachery, conspiracy and mass-murder.”

“His Order of Merlin has been removed as well, of course,” Dumbledore added. 

“Oh, yes, that too,” Fudge said.

“What of his sentence?” Harry inquired. 

“H-his sentence?” Fudge asked. 

“Yes, his sentence,” Harry said. “Sirius Black had no trial at all and he served twelve years in Azkaban for a crime he didn’t commit, what is going to be Pettigrew’s punishment?”

“The Dementor's Kiss,” Snape said given Fudge's lack of guts. “Tomorrow morning.”

“As of right now, Peter Pettigrew awaits the fulfilment of his sentence confined inside the Dark Tower,” Dumbledore said. 

“And Sirius Black is on his way to the Infirmary,” Fudge said in a failed effort of staying on the bright side of things. 

“The poor man held back a werewolf and was attacked by a hundred dementors on the same day, he should have been here ages ago,” Madame Pomfrey said dryly. “Not to mention twelve years in Azkaban, I sure hope you don’t expect miracles from me, minister.”

“Eh, just do your best, Poppy dear,” Fudge nodded. 

Madame Pomfrey couldn’t help but cringe at the “dear". 

“Is that all, minister?” Poppy Pomfrey inquired. “My patients are tired, I'm busy and once Sirius Black gets here I’m only getting busier.”

“Ah, yes, sorry for the interruption,” Fudge said with his head low. “I know the way out.”

“I believe you do, yes.”

It was a matter of minutes from the moment Fudge left to the moment Sirius arrived in an enchanted stretcher. 

“Aw, Cissy,” Sirius said with a tired smile. “Never took you for a sentimental, are you here for me?”

“It's good to see you, Sirius,” Narcissa replied. “I'm here for my son, Draco, I believe you’ve met him already.”

“I did,” Sirius replied. “Brave boy that Draco of yours, never left Harry’s side, not for a moment.”

“That sounds like him, yes,” Narcissa replied and Draco blushed. 

“Mr. Black,” Poppy called him, “I’m going to need you to drink this.”

“What is it?” Sirius said as he sniffed the mug.

“Hot chocolate, of course,” Madame Pomfrey said. “You drink it, and afterwards, I’m going to sedate you so I can tend to your wounds.”

“May God have mercy on me,” Sirius joked.

“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve treated your injuries, as I recall, Mr. Black,” Madame Pomfrey teased him. “Do you have so little faith in me?”

“I have the greatest of faiths in you, dear Poppy,” Sirius said. “It’s just I never thought I’d be this happy to be on one of your hospital beds again.”

“You flatterer, finish that mug already so I can start patching you up,” Poppy said. “As for everyone else, it’s getting late and your children need to rest, I advise you visit them tomorrow after lunch, I can assure you they’ll be feeling better.”

The adults nodded in response and left the room after saying their goodbyes, Narcissa gave one last plaintive look at either his son or his cousin, Harry couldn’t tell, before closing the doors behind her.

Madame Pomfrey gave each one of her patients, except Ron who was already on the deepest of sleeps, a sip of a bottle of Draught of the Living Dead so she could start treating Sirius’ wounds.

“Goodnight, Harry,” Sirius slurred as the potion kicked in.

Madame Pomfrey had him sniff some herb in order to wake Harry up from his slumber, the Infirmary was empty except from him, Madame Pomfrey, Sirius and Remus. 

“Hagrid brought him earlier today.” Sirius explained regarding Remus, “He found him laying on some clearing inside the Forest.”

“How is he?” Harry left his bed to walk over to Sirius’ side. 

“He’s alright,” Sirius replied as he caressed Remus’ face softly. “A little bruised maybe, but alright overall.”

“And you?” Harry stared into Sirius’ eyes, gray as Draco's. 

“Never better,” Sirius replied. “I can’t say the same about Wormy, though.”

“Did the dementors- ”

“Kiss him? Yeah, they did,” Sirius sighed. 

“I'm sorry,” Harry said. “I know he was your friend, once, at least.”

“Thank you, Harry,” Sirius hugged his godson from the shoulder. “Thank you, but the Peter I knew died the same day your parents did.”

Harry stayed silent, he couldn’t relate to Sirius pain and so he said nothing, out of fear of being perceived as out of touch.

“But enough of grim stuff, how are you feeling?” Sirius shrugged off their past conversation. “I convinced Poppy to wake you up late, since you fought a hundred dementors and all.”

“I’m feeling good, actually, thank you,” Harry smiled.

“Did you, errr, give any thought to my offer?” Sirius seemed nervous to ask him.

“Your offer?” Harry raised an eyebrow. 

“About you coming to live with me,” Sirius said. “Now that I’m a free man and all.”

“I didn’t need to give it any thought at all,” Harry replied. 

“I, uh, figured,” Sirius said. “I’m sure Dumbledore will talk to them.”

“Talk to who?” Harry asked, puzzled. 

“Your aunt and uncle,” Sirius replied. “You’ll want to stay with them, I assume.”

“Sirius, I want to live with you,” Harry said. “I meant to say yes yesterday but we had some other pressing matters to tend to.”

“Are you serious?” the delight in Sirius eyes was tangible.

“Dead serious,” Harry beamed at him. “Yesterday you told me how eager you were in getting to know your godson, I am equally as eager to get to know my godfather.”

“Oh, Harry,” Sirius eyes became teary as he embraced him into a hug. “You won’t regret it!”

“I’m sure I won’t,” Harry chuckled. 

Harry enjoyed the familiar warmth that emanated from Sirius’ hug, he looked like a different man already, a happier man.

“I do want to apologise, though,” Harry said. 

“Whatever for?” Sirius inquired as he let go off him. 

“I believe I punched you yesterday,” Harry said ashamed. “On the face… several times.”

“There’s no need to worry about it, it’s already in the past,” Sirius dismissed him. “But I believe you should apologise to Snape.”

“Ah, yes, that one might not be in the past just yet,” Harry gritted his teeth.

“Yes, he can be very good at holding grudges,” Sirius said. 

They stood there in silence for a little while watching as Remus rested. 

“You should go get some lunch, Harry, it’s already past twelve,” Sirius said. “Some boy was asking you for you earlier.”

“I could stay,” Harry suggested him. “Make you some company.”

“Oh no, don’t bother, I’m getting lunch later as well,” Sirius dismissed him. “I just don’t want to leave Moony's side just yet.”

“You really love him, huh?” Harry said.

“Yeah, I do,” Sirius said as his hand reached for Remus'. “I really, really do.”

“I’m glad,” Harry smiled softly. “You two look very nice together.”

“Thank you, Harry,” Sirius smiled back at him. “I hope one day you'll find your very own Remus in whoever you come to love… when you’re older, of course, Lily would have my head if she heard me right now.”

“I think she’d be entertained,” Harry chuckled. 

“You must be tired of people telling you this,” Sirius started, “but you have- ”

“My mother’s eyes,” Harry smiled proudly.

“Yes,” Sirius said. “But other than that, you might be James’ carbon copy, mischievous behaviour and all.”

“I get that one a lot too,” Harry said. “I'll, uh, leave you to it, then.”

“Yeah, yeah, enjoy your lunch,” Sirius said as Harry walked away.

Harry opened the Infirmary doors to find Cedric sitting outside in the hallway.

“Harry,” Cedric said as he got up. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine, Ced, really,” Harry said. “And you?”

“Fine, recovered,” Cedric chuckled.

“Listen, Ced,” Harry got closer to him. “I really want to apologise to you, I dragged you, all of you, to my mess and it could’ve gone wrong, wrong in so many ways.”

Harry was thankful Madame Pomfrey's Draught of the Living Dead induced him into a dream-less slumber, otherwise, flashes of Sirius, Hermione, and Draco's unconscious bodies over the lake shore would have flooded his dreams, pictures of Cedric’s teary, desperate eyes as he gave up.

“Harry,” Cedric started. 

“No, listen to me, Cedric,” Harry said firmly. “Yesterday I meant to save Sirius, but I had no right putting all of you in danger.”

“No, Harry, you listen to me,” Cedric made Harry hold his gaze. “You saved us all. Yes, it could’ve gone very wrong, but it didn’t, thanks to you it didn’t.”

Cedric embraced Harry into a tight hug as the smaller boy inhaled sharply on Cedric’s shoulder.

“Don’t make yourself miserable over what could’ve been, Harry,” Cedric whispered into his ear. “Now, should we go get you some breakfast?”

Harry caught up with his friends over lunch. Blaise, Theo, Pansy, and Neville apologized for their tardiness, Ron showed him the ethereal work Madame Pomfrey had done on his leg over the night, Hermione's parents couldn’t wait for Sunday to arrive after she told them of the ordeal they had been through and Draco glanced from across the table, constantly reassuring him all was well.

“Have you heard from your father yet?” Harry asked him as they walked to their common room to get changed. 

“Not really,” Draco said. “But don’t worry, I’m not.”

“You know I can’t help getting worried,” Harry said. “You’re my best friend, I’ll always worry about you.”

“Well you don’t have to,” Draco kissed his forehead. 

“Are you feeling alright?” Harry asked. “I’m sorry about yesterday.”

“Harry,” Draco put his finger on Harry’s lips to shush him. “I’m alright, we’re alright, and that’s all that matters. Now go get changed, I assume you’ll want to visit Hagrid now that _Buckbeak_ ’s out of the woods.”

Harry looked at the Portrait Hallway in a different light that day. He hurried and got changed into the first clothes he found because, according to Draco, their friends were already at Hagrid's.

“The whole world knows about you snapping at Fudge last night,” Draco told him as they crossed the wooden bridge.

“That explains all the whispering,” Harry said. 

“Oh no, the whispering is because of you and Sirius,” Draco teased him. “The prying eyes are because of you and Fudge.”

“You have a godsent gift when it comes to gossip,” Harry said. 

“An art form I have come to master, I believe,” Draco joked. 

“No doubt in my mind about that.”

When they arrived at Hagrid’s they noticed _Buckbeak_ wasn’t tied to a post anymore, he was laying on the ground as Hagrid patted him on the back, everyone sat around them as if Hagrid was telling them horror stories around a bonfire. 

“Harry, Draco! You’re feeling alright, I hope?” Hagrid greeted them.

“Alright indeed,” Draco replied. “How's Buckbeak?”

“Eager to spread his wings, perhaps Harry could take him on a ride again,” Hagrid grinned.

“Oh no, my days of mounting hippogriffs are long gone,” Harry dismissed him. “But you should ask Draco.”

“I’m sure _Buckbeak_ doesn’t like me very much,” Draco smiled uncomfortably as the hippogriff’s yellow eyes stared right into his. 

“And what's better than a good flight to make amends?” Hagrid suggested. “Oh, come on, I’m sure that if you keep your calm he'll do the same.”

Their friends stared at Draco in awe, squinting their eyes as if they were daring him.

“Alright,” Draco said. “But let’s do it now, before I change my mind.”

Hagrid made them clear the coast, it reminded Harry of an airport’s landing track.

Draco got face to face with _Buckbeak_ as Hagrid guided him through all the procedures. Draco could feel the hippogriff’s eyes in the back of his head as he bowed, it wasn’t until Hagrid squealed in delight that Draco knew _Buckbeak_ had bowed as well. 

“Hold on tight,” Hagrid said as he placed Draco on top of _Buckbeak_. “And whatever you do, don’t pull his feathers.”

“A-alright, I guess,” Draco said as he placed his arms around _Buckbeak_ ’s neck. 

“Now go!” Hagrid commanded _Buckbeak_.

The hippogriff ran through Hagrid’s improvised landing track before kicking the ground and elevating into the sky, Draco let out a horrified scream that made Cedric snicker as he disappeared into the clouds. 

After a few minutes the trembling Draco who had left Hagrid’s pumpkin patch was nowhere to be seen, in his place stood an euphoric, unrecognizable Draco, hollering in excitement as _Buckbeak_ made him roll on the ground after a rough landing. 

“That was awesome!” Draco cheered. “And you, mister,” he pointed at Harry with a shaky finger,” didn’t do Buckbeak any justice when it came to describing his majestic, smooth ride across the skies.”

“It was eclipsed by your majestic stupidity when you taunted him,” Harry teased him. 

“Oh, shut up,” Draco replied and everybody laughed. 

Harry wished in silence for more days like that, sunny days, laughing with his friends on the school’s grounds, no mysteries to solve, no finals to ace, just his friends and himself laughing until their bellies ached.

In two days, on Sunday, on Draco’s birthday, they would be on their way back to King’s Cross, back to London, and Harry would finally be welcomed into a real home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter will be hopefully uploaded tomorrow as I'm already working on it.  
> Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter on the comments below.


	28. Anything from the trolley, dears?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Draco say their goodbyes.  
> Harry's scar burns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the delay, I found this chapter extremely hard to write, but it's finally here, I hope you like it.

**Chapter 28:**

**Anything from the trolley, dears?**

Sirius and Remus left Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that Saturday first thing in the morning after a heated discussion at Dumbledore’s office that could be heard all the way down to the Gargoyle's Corridor staircase. Harry could only hear snippets of said discussion but the words “resignation”, “Dursleys”, and “manipulation" resurfaced every other sentence. 

In the end, Remus, Sirius and Harry said their goodbyes in a clearing just outside the school’s grounds limits, Dumbledore had arranged for them to leave via _Portkey_.

“Why don’t I come with you?” Harry suggested. “This is my last day after all.”

“Because my house hasn’t been cleaned in quite a while,” Sirius sighed. “And I want to get it all ready before you get to London tomorrow.”

“Then you could use another set of hands,” Harry insisted.   
“Harry, Sirius wants to impress you,” Lupin chuckled. “And if that first impression is to be a good one then that house is to get _deep_ cleaned.”

“Besides,” Sirius added, “things with Dumbledore are a little tense right now with Moony's resignation and you coming to live with us despite his wishes.”

“I don’t know why he believes I don’t know what’s best for me,” Harry spat. 

“Dumbledore tends to believe he always knows what’s best,” Lupin replied. “And for some reason I don’t think even he starts to comprehend, he believes the Dursleys are what’s best for your protection.”

“But you’ve got another option now,” Sirius said. 

“And I'm glad I chose it,” Harry gave him a complicit smile. 

“I think we’d better leave, dear,” Remus said as he reached for Sirius' hand. 

“Yeah, I think we’d better do,” Sirius agreed. “We'll see you tomorrow, Harry.”

“Goodbye, Sirius,” Harry waved. “Goodbye, Professor.”

“Ah, Harry, but I’m not, not anymore at least,” Lupin gave him a sad smile. “That’s why I don’t feel any guilt at all in giving this back to you.”

Lupin searched his pocket and threw Harry a familiar piece of parchment. 

“Use it well,” Lupin winked at him before reaching for the rusty bucket at their feet and disappearing from the clearing. 

Normally, Harry would feel sad to leave Hogwarts. In former years, Harry would have spent his last days wandering around the castle trying to memorize every last familiar crack on the wall, but that was when he had to get to the Dursleys’ for the summer. Now, even though he would miss the castle over the summer, it wasn’t ache and fear that filled his heart, it was nostalgia and a sense of hope for what was coming to him, for his future.

That year had given him many headaches, most of them because of a lie that had endured throughout twelve long years, a lie he was lucky to have uncovered, but beside that, beside all the turbulence, that year had brought him many joys, his friends, Draco, and Cedric among them. 

After enjoying his last lunch at the Great Hall, Harry and his friends spent their last day at Hogwarts at the _Quidditch_ Pitch, laughing and taking turns riding Harry’s _Firebolt_. Harry couldn’t help smiling at the thought that his godfather had gotten him a _Firebolt_.

They returned back into the Great Hall as it went dark for the year’s final feast, in which Dumbledore awarded the House Cup to Ravenclaw. A couple of days ago Ravenclaw wasn’t even close to winning the House Cup, but after the events of that Thursday’s evening, with Harry, Hermione and Cedric attacking a professor, the winner became obvious when Snape took several points from their Houses the moment he regained consciousness. 

“Perhaps we should recruit someone from Ravenclaw,” Draco suggested. “That way we all have equal shots at winning the House Cup after our yearly adventures.”

“And who do you suggest?” Harry inquired. “Padma?”

“As much as I like her, I don’t think she’ll be a nice fit,” Draco replied. “She’s too shy.”

“Who then, Cho Chang?” Harry raised a playful eyebrow. “You seemed to like her quite _a lot_ over winter break.”

“Are you still jealous after all these months?” Draco teased him. “I was just being friendly, Potter, there's no need to get territorial.”

“W-what?” Harry stammered. “I-I don’t know w-what you’re talking about.”

And perhaps he didn’t, but the colour on his cheeks sure did.

Dobby got teary-eyed next morning as he helped Harry and Draco pack their things back into their respective trunks. 

“Must you leave, Master Draco?” Dobby looked up at him. “And on your birthday?”

“It’s not an ideal birthday, but yes, Dobby,” Draco replied softly. “I, _we_ , must leave.”

“I can’t wait until we see each other again next year,” Dobby said nonchalantly. 

“It’ll be only for a few months, Dobby,” Harry gave him a reassuring smile. “And you can always come visit me if you'd like.”

“Harry Potter's _muggle_ family wouldn’t approve of Dobby's presence,” the house-elf stared at the floor. 

“I won’t be returning to the Dursleys',” Harry said. “I have a new home now.”

“You do?” Dobby's eyes lit up.

“Harry will be staying at his godfather’s, my mother’s cousin, in London,” Draco explained. 

“Dobby would hate to speak ill of anyone,” the house-elf started, swaying on his feet, “but he is glad Harry Potter has found a new home, Dobby always thought those _muggles_ weren’t worthy of housing Harry Potter’s greatness.”

“Thank you, Dobby, really.” Harry smiled at him. “But I’m afraid we must leave.”

“Yeah, it’s getting late,” Draco agreed.

Dobby nodded in response and grabbed both Harry and Draco's trunks and disapparated out of the room followed by a loud crack.

“Where has he gone?” Harry asked just as Dobby apparated back into the room.

“Dobby has already taken Master Draco and Mr. Harry Potter’s trunks to the Hogsmeade Station,” Dobby explained. “Have a safe travel.”

Harry grabbed _Hedwig's_ cage and then, both Draco and him wished Dobby well one last time before leaving the dorm room behind. The common room was chaos, everyone was either getting our or saying goodbye while Snape coordinated everyone’s exit and some students dragged their trunks through the stone floor with all their strength.

“Leaving now, I assume?” Snape raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, professor,” Draco replied. “But I trust we’ll see each other over the summer?”

“Perhaps,” Snape replied with the hint of a smile on his face. “Happy birthday, Draco.”

“Thank you, professor.”

“Errr, professor?” Harry cleared his throat. “I-I, umm, wanted to apologise to you.”

“Mr. Diggory has already apologised on your behalf,” Snape replied dryly. “But I was hoping you’d come to me as well.”

Draco rolled his eyes at Cedric’s mention, as if he was saying “of course he did".

“I’m sorry for attacking you back at the Shrieking Shack,” Harry blurted. “I never meant to hurt you, I just wanted to hear the truth behind Sirius’s claims.”

“You’re aware that your little stunt cost us the House Cup?” Snape inquired. 

“I am, and I’m sorry about that, too,” Harry replied with his head low.

“Good, you should be,” Snape said dryly. “You’re forgiven, but Potter, if you ever raise you wand at me ever again—“

“I’ll regret it, I know,” Harry sighed.

“You will,” Snape nodded. “Now leave, it’s getting late.”

The boys agreed and followed his classmates on their way out of the common room to the Portrait Hallway.

“Shall we join the others, birthday boy?” Harry asked as he offered Draco his arm.

“Certainly,” Draco agreed as he intertwined his and Harry’s arms together. 

Harry and Draco kept an eye out just in case they saw their friends as they followed the crowd on their way outside of the castle, but it was just as they dragged their feet on the trail to the Hogsmeade Station that they started to join them one by one.

“Where are your trunks?” Blaise asked them as he tried to drag his trunk through the muddy trail.

“Dobby already took them to the station,” Draco explained with a smug smile on his face. 

“Lucky bastards,” Pansy muttered behind them.

They waved goodbye at Hagrid as they climbed inside the train and started their search for an empty cabin. 

“Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea letting Dobby bring our things,” Draco said. “Now I don’t know where they are.”

“Come quick, I think I see an empty cabin!” Ron said as he ignored Draco’s complaint.

Harry sighed and followed Ron’s footsteps as he inspected each and every cabin they walked past by just in case he saw his trunk.

“Where’s Theo?” Hermione asked as she entered the cabin. “I thought he was just behind us.”

“He’s gone with Neville and _the Gryffindors_ ,” Blaise explained. 

“Who are _the Gryffindors_?” Harry asked, sitting down.  
“Dean and Seamus, of course,” Blaise replied.

“Harry, isn’t that your trunk?” Ron asked as he pointed with his finger to the shelf above his head.

“It is!” Draco sighed in relief. “There’s mine as well!”

“Good, you can stop complaining now,” Pansy smiled.

“I only did it once,” Draco replied.

“Whatever,” she mocked him.

It took longer than usual for the train to start his way back to London. Harry stared out the window to the green hills below the morning sky as his eyes closed and he surrendered into Morpheus’ arms only to be waken up, his head on Draco's shoulder, by a familiar sound coming from the hallway between cabins.

“Anything from the trolley, dears?” the trolley witch asked as she opened their cabin's door.

“Give me as much Cauldron Cakes and Pumpkin Pasties as you have,” Harry remembered Draco’s favourites, who was still asleep beside him.

“Oh dear, that’s a lot of sugar,” she replied as she hunched down and grabbed the candy boxes Harry had asked for.

“Don’t worry, we're sharing,” Harry explained. “It’s my best friend’s birthday."

“Well, congratulate him on my behalf,” she smiled before closing back the cabin’s door after Harry paid her a substantial amount of galleons. 

Since Cedric was in a separate wagon with the other prefects, his friends were asleep on their respective seats and Draco would wake up from his snoring slumber if Harry moved too much, he decided to surrender back into sleep.

“What’s all this?” Draco’s gasp woke everyone up from their respective naps.

“Your favourites, I believe,” Harry said as he rubbed his eyes.

“That I know,” Draco replied. “I meant why are there entire boxes of candy at our feet?”

“Because it’s your birthday,” Harry said as if he was pointing the obvious.

“You bought them?” Draco asked him. “When?”

“I was lucky to wake up just in time,” Harry said. “The trolley witch came a few hours earlier while everyone else slept.”

“Thank you, Harry,” Draco squeezed his hand. “But don’t you think you went a little overboard?”

“We better get started then,” Ron said as he grabbed a Cauldron Cake from the floor.

The landscape started to look more and more familiar as they came closer to London, the morning sky was now long gone as its brightness was now replaced by the gray opacity of the afternoon urban sky.

For a good thirty minutes all that could be heard inside their cabin was the munching of their many sweets, in the end, they all ended up hands-on-their-bellies full and taking a second nap seemed tempting but they knew they’d get to King’s Cross at any moment now and suddenly the anticipation of seeing Sirius again made the exhaustion disappear. 

Harry was beginning to wonder about Cedric, how was he doing, if the prefects' wagon was any fun, if he was wondering about him as well, when he noticed that the train started slowing down and through the window he saw the familiar insides of the Platform 9¾.

“We’re here!” Hermione said as she dusted the candy crumbs off her lap.

They waited until most of the people got off the train to avoid getting caught up inside the chaos of a human stampede but once most students have left the train they grabbed their trunks and _Hedwig’s_ cage and left their cabin and started walking the train corridor towards the exit. 

“Oh, no,” Draco gasped. 

“What’s the matter?” Harry asked.

“My father,” Draco said as he hid inside the train’s walls. “He’s here.”

Harry looked outside the window and saw the same picture Draco did, a picture of unhappiness, mainly: Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy stood next to each other on the platform, Narcissa looked like she’d rather be anywhere but by her husband’s side and Lucius, Lucius looked tired, he looked as if he hadn’t slept in days, his clothes didn’t look as impeccable as they always did, his hair was somehow messy, he had bags under his eyes and his skin looked overall oily.

“Damn, what’s wrong with him?” Pansy frowned as she looked out the window.

“I have no idea,” Draco said. “But he must have arrived just now from his mystery vacation, my mother didn’t tell he would be here.”

“How many days was he gone?” Ron asked with a hint of disgust in his voice.

“Today would have been three,” Draco said.

“Are you ready to get off?” Harry asked him putting his arm around his shoulders.

“Actually, I think it would be best if we said our goodbyes here,” Draco replied with his head low. “I don’t think he’ll be happy to see me get off with you, or to see me, at all.”

“Don’t say that,” Hermione said as she wrapped his arms around the blond's waist. “Please be careful this summer.”

“Is it safe writing to you?” Ron asked him before joining the hug.

“Let me write to you first, just in case,” Draco replied as he let go of both Gryffindors. 

“Where’s Theo?” Pansy asked as she got closer to Draco.

“He must have left already,” Blaise replied. “I heard Neville saying something about introducing him to his grandma or something like that.”

“Well, he better watch out for his father too,” Draco sighed. “Goodbye, guys.”

Blaise and Pansy almost tackled his friend when they hugged him, Draco chucked and gave them a sad smile before letting go of their embrace. Harry met Draco’s gaze, he wanted to say something but a sigh was all that left his mouth.

“Come on, guys,” Blaise cleared his throat. “We should start getting off.”

Pansy and the Gryffindors nodded and waved goodbye one last time at them before getting off the train.

“Will you be alright?” Harry asked him.

“I will,” Draco replied, he could see himself into Harry’s green eyes. “I’ll write to you.”

“You'd better,” Harry laughed softly. “Until then, I’m gonna miss you.”

“I’m gonna miss you more.”

Harry looked up at Draco, a strand of his platinum hair invaded his forehead, Harry didn’t know when they started holding hands since it had become sort of a habit by then, but he proceeded to break their hands' intertwining to rearrange Draco's wild lock of hair. Harry stood on the tip of his feet to reach his best friend’s face, his hand paraded through Draco’s face after a quick brush through his hair, and, before it could move anywhere else, Draco stopped Harry’s hand right there on his cheek and Harry’s heart skipped a beat, he was now the one seeing himself in his best friend’s eyes, he was lost in them, but Draco broke the illusion as he directed his gaze somewhere lower in Harry’s face.

Harry panicked internally as he felt Draco’s eyes staring into his lips.

When had they gotten this close? He wondered, and, should he be the one to take the next step?

Draco didn’t seem to wait for an answer as he placed his left hand on the back of Harry’s head, pulling him just a little bit closer.

Draco, Harry wanted to say his name. Draco, what are we doing? But only a soft gasp escaped his lips.

What are we doing? He asked himself. And more importantly, what was he waiting for?

Draco took a deep breath, was this his chance? He wanted to know. If he pulled Harry’s head closer to him, if their lips touched, would they be the same as always afterwards? Or would something change? In him? In them? In Harry? _His_ Harry. And if it did, would it be for good? Sure, there was the Diggory of it all, but they could figure it out later, they could figure it all out later.

Screw it, Draco thought to himself, now or never. He was ready to risk it all and damned be the consequences, if Harry seemed as eager as he was, would it be so wrong if he did what they were both waiting to happen? He thought not.

“Ummm, excuse me, kids?” The train driver stood uncomfortably at the end of the corridor. “Aren’t your parents waiting for you?”

“Oh, umm, right,” Harry stammered. “O-our parents.”

“Yeah, we were just, umm, leaving,” Draco said.

“Right,” The man said equally uncomfortable. “Don’t make them wait too much, yeah?”

The man nodded at them before leaving onto the next wagon.

“So, umm, where were we?” Draco asked as a last resort to recover what was just stolen from them.

“Our goodbyes,” Harry blurted. “We were _just_ saying our goodbyes.”

“Right, our goodbyes,” Draco looked at his feet.

Screw it, Harry though to himself as he grabbed onto his best friend’s shoulders and stood on the tip of his feet before planting a kiss on Draco Malfoy’s cheek. 

“W-what was that for?” Draco blushed. 

“Happy birthday, Draco,” Harry sighed as he held onto Draco’s body. “I’m gonna miss you.”

“I’ll write to you,” Draco said. “I promise.”

“Alright ,” Harry said as he let go of his friend. “Off you go, then.”

Draco nodded and started walking toward the exit, he gave Harry one last smile before stepping off the train and into the platform. Harry saw as he joined his parents, Narcissa gave him a genuine smile even though she had just seen him a couple of days before at the Hospital Wing, Lucius on the other hand just put a territorial hand on his son’s shoulder.

Harry peeked through the window in hopes that Draco would look back at him, but it was Lucius, whose eyes roamed all over the place in paranoia, who saw him instead. Their eyes locked for just one second, and it wasn’t like they haven’t looked at each other in the eyes before, but this time something was off. Harry knew Lucius didn’t exactly like him, but was that the reason behind the rage in Lucius’ eyes, was that the reason why his scar burned the second they had locked eyes? 

“Harry, your godfather is looking for y—,” Cedric Diggory stopped himself as he saw Harry crouching in pain. “Harry, are you alright?”

“Y-yeah, just a little lightheaded,” Harry lied as he pressed his hand against his scar.

“Harry, don’t lie to me,” Cedric replied in worry. “How can I help?”

“Just wait a minute,” Harry groaned. 

Cedric nodded in bewilderment and offered his hand to Harry, which he squeezed as the pain spiked and then abruptly stopped. 

“Are you alright?” Cedric asked him again.

“My scar,” Harry said, “it burned.”

“But it has burned before, right?”

“Yeah,” Harry replied. “But only when _He’s_ close.”

Cedric looked around them in panic just in case, but they were alone on the floor of the train corridor.

“Well, I don’t think he is,” Cedric said. “Can you imagine that?”

“Yeah, I’d rather not,” Harry replied. “Can you help me up?”

“Sure,” Cedric pulled him off the floor. 

“What are you doing here, by the way?” Harry inquired.

“I was the last prefect to get off,” Cedric explained, “I ran into the driver and he asked me to make sure no one was still at the train.”

“Weren’t you saying something about Sirius?” Harry asked.

“Ah, yes,” Cedric remembered. “I saw him and Professor Lupin asking the Weasleys about you just as I came back inside the train, do you want me to take you to him?”

“Yes, please.”

Cedric’s warm touch as he guided him throughout the platform’s crowd was the polar opposite of Draco’s ice cold hand on the back of his head, but both were feelings Harry enjoyed immensely. 

“Have your parents arrived yet?” Harry asked him as he managed to drag both Hedwig’s cage and his trunk.

“I don’t know,” Cedric said. “I haven’t looked for them.”

“And are you sure you don’t want to—”

“Harry,” Cedric cut him mid-sentence. “I want to take you to your godfather, my parents can wait a little longer.”

Cedric didn’t realise just how authoritarian he had sounded until a few seconds later.

“If that’s alright with you, I mean,” he added.

“Of course it is, Ced,” Harry assured him. “Let’s go.”

Harry and Cedric ran into Sirius and Remus as they walked throughout the platform’s length. 

“There he is!” Sirius smiled at him. “Need a hand with that? Moony grabbed a cart.”

“Yes please,” Harry sighed in relief as he handed them Hedwig’s cage and his trunk.

“Mr. Black, Professor Lupin,” Cedric greeted them shyly.   
“It’s Sirius, please,” he told Cedric. “You saw me drag your friend through the Whomping Willow, we're far past formalities now.”

“Alright, Sirius,” Cedric agreed. 

“How was the train back home?” Remus asked them. “No dementors this time, I hope.”

“None,” Harry smiled. “Just ate a lot of sweets in celebration of Draco’s birthday.”

“Oh, is Cissy here?” Sirius asked him eagerly. 

“They already left,” Harry said remembering his and Lucius' interaction.

“Aww, too bad,” Sirius said.

“What about your parents, Cedric?” Lupin inquired. “Are they here yet?”

“I’m going to look for them now,” Cedric said. “I just wanted to take Harry to you.”

“Thank you, Ced,” Harry said. “Are you sure you don’t need help finding your parents?”

“Oh, no, don’t worry.” Cedric replied. “They can’t be far.”

“Alright,” Harry said. “Take care, Ced.”

“You too, Harry, see you over the summer,” he said as he squeezed his hand one last time, and it almost sounded like a promise. “Sirius, Professor Lupin.”

“I’m not your professor anym—,” Remus stopped himself. “Goodbye, Cedric, take care.”

Harry walked between Sirius, who was pulling the cart with Harry’s things, and Remus as they found their way out of the hidden platform. 

“So, are you excited to get home?” Sirius asked him with a mischievous smile on his face.

Harry smiled back at his godfather and gulped. That was the first time he could truthfully say he was excited to get home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for "Strangers In The Night", I hope you enjoyed reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it. I will be posting the first chapter of the Goblet of Fire rewrite as soon as I can, but definitely by Wednesday, so stay tuned. :)  
> Please let me know your thoughts on this chapter (and fic overall) on the comments below.  
> Thanks for reading!


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